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THE 



AND ITS 



G S P,^ L 

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BY 



JAMES CHALLEN, 

AUTHOR OF 

«THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH AND OTHER P0E3IS." 



" ProTe all things." 



J 



^^ 



^^ 



PHILADELPHIA: 
JAMES CHALLEN & SONS, 

BULLETIN BUILDINGS. 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 20 NORTH FOURTH STREET. 

- 1856. 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JAMES CHALLEN, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and 
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY E. B. MEAR8. 



PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN & SON. 



LC Control Number 



tmp96 026534 



PREFACE, 

The design of this work is, to present to 
the reader some of the reasons which made 
it necessary for a return to Apostolic Christi- 
anity, as seen in ''the beginning;" and to 
develop its leading principles. 

The work is intended for the masses, and 
is thus presented in a cheap but elegant 
form. It will be useful as a compend of 
religious teaching on great and sublime 
topics ; and will supply a need among those 
who wish to know something about the 
Gospel and its elements, or to furnish others 
with the means of knowing. We commend 
it to all inquirers into the '' truth as it is in 
Jesus ;'' and by the blessing of God, we trust 
it may prove useful to the cause of the Re- 
deemer, in multiplying the number of the 
saved. 

(3) 



CONTENTS. 



I. The Origin of the Present Reformation 

AS plead by the Disciples . . Page 9 

II. The Origin and Principles of the Reform- 
ation 23 

III. The Reformation as plead by the Disciples 37 

IV. Causes which originated the Reformation o6 

V. The Gospel of Christ in opposition to the 

Gospel of the Sect . . . .73 

VI. Where and When was the Gospel first 

Preached ? . . . . . .88 

VII. By whom was the Gospel first Preached ? 105 

VIII. What is Faith, and how is it obtained? . 119 

IX. Faith and Sight 136 

X. The Province of Reason in Matters of 

Faith 151 

XI. The Doctrine and Duty of Repentance . 107 

XII. External Ordinances .... 181 

XIII. The Everlasting Kingdom, and the Means 

OF its Enjoyment 196 



(4) 



THE 



GOSPEL AND ITS ELEMENTS. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 
AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 

We are naturally anxious to know all that can 
be ascertained in reference to the origin of all great 
movements, political or religious ; just as we feel 
interested to know the origin of rivers which 
fertilize and enrich kingdoms and states, or the 
causes which produce great changes and revolu- 
tions in particular forms of society, and throughout 
the world. This is the chief duty and labour of 
the historian, and constitutes the most pleasing and 
useful portions of his work. 

Opinions on all subjects, have been undergoing 
many changes during the last half century ; and 
indeed since the days of Lord Bacon, who was the 
first to set aside the dogmatism of the schools for 
the deductions of reason, and the opinions of men 
for the truths of experimental philosophy. Before 
2 (9) 



10 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 

his day the theories held were chaotic and shifting j 
nothing wa^ stable or permanent ; and if a great 
and good writer is the friend and benefactor of his 
race, a great reformer is more so ; and when a man 
unites both these, his claims upon the gratitude of 
the world are incomparable. 

Many volumes have been written with reference 
to the origin of the Lutheran reformation, and they 
constitute a part of the literary wealth of our race. 
But the difficulties in the way of understanding 
the causes which led to it, and the obstacles in the 
way of its achievements, are insuperable, unless we 
have some knowledsre of the times in which it 
originated, the age and the country which gave it 
birth, the chief actors in the scenes which were 
presented, and the objects and aims of its movers. 

On all these subjects the pen of the historian 
and biographer has been employed, and large and 
numerous works have been written. Whilst in- 
numerable treatises and sermons, lectures and 
essays have been given, and yet the theme is not 
exhausted. 

The same may be said also in reference to the 
reformation as plead by John Wesley. Though 
the obj ects contemplated by him were not so grand 
and sublime, and the elements which, he evolved 
and handled so mighty and fearful ; yet his work 
is one that has enlisted the attention of men of the 
finest minds, and the labour he has accomplished 



AS PLEAD EY THE DISCIPLES. 11 

is exerting a powerful influence- over the destinies 
of large portions of our race. 

Luther found the Word of God chained by the 
hand of an imperial ecclesiastic, and the salvation 
which is of God, placed in the hands of one who 
called himself the successor of Peter, and the souls 
of men, perishing for the bread of life, left to feed 
on ashes ; the guilty and the ruined compelled to 
look to a self-constituted church rather than to 
Heaven for pardon ; and the Roman Pontiff sitting 
in the Temple of God, and claiming all the honours 
and the prerogatives due only to the Father of 
Spirits. He found innumerable mediators between 
God and men, instead of the one Mediator — the 
man Christ Jesus ; and the salvation obtained by 
him, bartered and sold in the market places to the 
highest bidder; and the gift of eternal life offered in 
exchange for works and penances, for silver and 
gold. He found the superior clergy sunk in the 
lowest state of ignorance and corruption. A Bishop 
of Dunfeldt congratulated himself that he had never 
learned Greek or Hebrew. The monks asserted 
that all heresies arose from the languages, but 
especially from the Greek. " The New Testa- 
ment,'' said one, " is a book full of serpents and 
thorns.'' '^ Greek," said he, ^^ is a modern lan- 
guage, but recently invented, and against which 
we must be on our guard. As to Hebrew, my 
dear brethren, it is certain that whosoever studies 



12 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 

that, immediately becomes a Jew.'' If such was 
the condition of the clergy, that of the people was 
still worse, sunk in the lowest depths of igno- 
rance and superstition, of moral pollution and death. 
The relation in which a reformer stands to his 
age — if he be a reformer — is that he is neither on 
a level with it, nor yet behind it — he must be 
before it. This was the case with Martin Luther, 
and all others who have left their true impression 
on the world. If he is not its forerunner, he is 
simply dragged along by the wheels of current 
opinion, or sullenly walks after it. The latter is 
but the dupe of his own vanity, the blind devotee 
of some new or antiquated dogma, and his work, 
upon the Temple of Truth, but ^^ wood and hay 
and stubble. '^ 

Luther attempted the overthrow of the Papacy, 
and simply reformed it. 

Of John Wesley it may be said, that he did not 
attempt a reformation of the faith of the Episco- 
pacy, but rather the piety of its members. He had 
no disposition to destroy existing usages, nor yet to 
reconstruct on the basis of original Christianity. 
He adhered to the creed and the liturgy of the 
Church of England, and lived and died in its com- 
munion. And the immense institution now called 
Methodism, was only in its origin a little, feeble 
society, designed for the purpose of promoting 
jx higher element of piety and purity. It has 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 13 

readied, long since, its acme ; it has accomplished 
its chief work. It can proceed no further, in the 
way of reform. And indeed much of its power 
has ceased with its numbers, its wealth, its irre- 
sponsible ministry, and its outward conformity to 
the ways of this evil world. 

But we must proceed to consider the origin and 
objects of the reformation as plead by the Disci- 
ples in the beginning of the present century. 

It was not a reformation from the abuses and 
corruptions of a dominant sect, like that effected 
by Luther in the Papacy. It was not simply the 
elevation of the piety of those who adhered to the 
forms and the usages of a popular state religion, 
like that of Wesley, in the Episcopacy. But it 
was rather a restoration in letter and spirit of ori- 
ginal, apostolic Christianity, as found simply and 
alone in the sacred writings of the Evangelists 
and Apostles of Christ. And this was effected, 
not by a reformation only, but by a revolution. 
This will account for the fierceness of the opposi- 
tion with which it was met, and the war of words 
it occasioned, and the system of proscription it 
aroused, from the press and the pulpit, in synods 
and presbyteries, in associations and conventions. 

Every inch of ground won, has been secured by 
the spiritual weapons employed by the advocates 
of restoration. Many sore battles have been fought, 
and victories achieved. The scene of this religious 



14 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 



tvarfare hitherto has been chiefly confined to the 
valley of the Mississippi^ but the triumphs it has 
obtained have gone far and near. We doubt not 
but that much of the work is to be re-enacted here 
and elsewhere, and it becomes us to estimate aright 
the value of the principles which it has developed, 
and the importance of the objects it designs to 
accomplish. 

We have much to encourage us in the East and 
the Northj from the general intelligence existing 
among the people, from whom we confidently expect 
a larger amount of candour, and a freer spirit of dis- 
cussion, in reference to the subjects embraced in 
our advocacy. 

The divisions of Protestant Christendom into 
numerous sects, spending their time in subtle and 
profitless controversies, wasting their energies, em- 
bittering their spirits, and afibrding sport for the 
adversaries of the cross of Christ, has long been its 
reproach, its blight, and its curse. This state of 
things not only existed and exists in the West and 
the South, but in every other section of our country j 
and throughout the entire limits of Protestantdom. 

The present popular exhibition of the Christian 
religion is a strange commixture of the false and 
the true ; and it is impossible to estimate fully the 
evils which have resulted from it. 

In many instances forms have displaced the sim- 
ple worship and service found in the Church of 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 15 

God; human creeds have legislated out of the 
Kingdom of God the divine creed of Christianity. 
Opinions have superseded the faith once delivered 
to the saints ; and the spirit of the sect has driven 
out of the Christian profession the spirit of Christ. 
Whilst the Gospel of the party has been preached 
for the Gospel of the kingdom, and the traditions 
of men have made void and empty the command- 
ments of God. 

In the midst of this confusion and misrule, the 
reformation we now are pleading arose like the 
sun behind the dark clouds and heavy atmosphere 
which enveloped it, and one of its first, and most 
difficult works, was the attempt to dissipate and 
scatter them, and to clear the way for the bright 
shining after the dark and the cloudy day. 

If ever there was need for such a reformation, it 
IS in the age in which we live. In many instances 
the weaker and less efficient parties are accomplish- 
ing nothing for the furtherance even of their own 
interests ; and will, in the course of time, be entirely 
absorbed. With the more dominant sects but little 
can be done, but through a still greater conformity 
to the spirit of the world, so as to bring the Church 
on a level with it. And thus the building of splen- 
did temples, to minister to the pride and vanity of 
the age. The rich garmiture and splendid decora- 
tions within, and the paid services of professional 
singers, to chant by proxy the praises of God. 



16 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 

Splendid orations in the pulpit on all subjects, from 
the icy extremes of materialism, up to the rarified 
/egions of spiritualism ; from the northern icebergs 
of Calvinism, to the southern regions of Arminian- 
ism (for both these belong to the polar regions), 
with all the intermediate regions, until they reach 
the flowery and gorgeous regions of the tropics, in 
which both preachers and people are wafted along 
by gales of richest odours, or are fed on fruits which 
pall upon the taste, and gratify only a sickly and 
depraved appetite, instead of ministering to the 
spiritual health and growth of the renewed heart 
and soul. 

The Church, originally one and indivisible, has 
been cut up into innumerable sects and parties, 
founded on some partially conceived idea of reli- 
gious truth, or some diiSerence in its policy and 
government ; and which has been the endless cause 
of strife and persecution, of bitterness and wrath. 

Human creeds have been published and laid down 
as the basis of the Church, and men have been 
called upon to subscribe to them, in order to gain 
admission, and to enjoy the fellowship of the party. 
Our opposition to creeds, arises from the position 
they are designed to occupy in the Church of God. 
We don't object to any party setting forth a defence 
of its religious principles and worship, but we pro- 
test against making its own views of religious truth 
the basis of Christian union and communion. "' Our 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 17 

opposition to creeds arises from a conviction tliat 
whetlier the opinions in them are true or false, they 
are hostile to the union, peace, harmony, purity, 
and joy of Christians ; and adverse to the conver- 
sion of the world to Jesus Christ/' 

In the first ages of the Christian Church, there 
were no human creeds, and these were the only 
ages of the Church in which there were unity, 
harmony, and love, in the Christian brotherhood. 
The introduction of human creeds was the com- 
mencement of war and division. 

To remedy these evils, and to introduce a purer 
element of Christianity, has been the chief design 
of this present reformation. To return to the 
ancient and well-defined landmarks, to restore the 
Apostolic Gospel and order of things, which ob- 
tained and were established at the beginning, are 
the chief and only objects contemplated by this 
movement. 

To sum up then in a condensed form the abuses 
of Christian doctrine and the evils which need 
to be corrected and removed, — the following will 
sufiice. 

The oppressive influence of human and un- 
authorized creeds over the individual faith and 
consciences of men, and the order, peace, and unity 
of the Churches of Christ. This we deem to be 
an enormous evil, and one directly opposed to the 



18 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 

union of Christians and the conversion of the 
world. 

The unauthorized nature of associations and 
conventions, which too often interfere with the 
religious liberty and rights of the independent 
Churches of Christ, and thereby lord it over the 
heritage of God. 

The bold assumptions and dominant influence 
of the ^^ Clergy^' — many of whom profess to be 
called of God as was Aaron, as was Peter, James 
and John, as was Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles ; 
and who pretend to speak and act under the im- 
mediate influence and teachings of the Holy Spirit. 

The metaphysical and dogmatic theology of the 
pulpit, preached and propagated on every Lord's 
Day, to the exclusion of the word of life — the 
doctrine which is according to godliness and the 
observance of the divine ordinances. 

The want of the Apostolic Gospel, which origi- 
nally converted the world and will do it again — a 
Gospel consisting of facts to be believed, of com- 
mands to be obeyed, and of promises to be enjoyed, 
instead of which anything and everything now is 
called Gospel, which men may choose ,to propagate. 

Unscriptural terms of admission into the Church. 
Some requiring infant baptism as the initiatory 
ordinance; others a knowledge of the Catechism 
and a subscription to the Articles ; and a third a 
delivery of a ^^ Christian experience*' before the 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 19 

party has become a Christian, — instead of demand- 
ing simply faith in his name and a sincere repent- 
ance and amendment of life, in order to baptism 
and admission into the Christian Church. 

The deferring of Christian baptism until monthly 
meetings shall convene for the purpose of sit- 
ting in judgment upon the candidates to ascer- 
tain if their experiences correspond with their own, 
or if they reach the imaginary standard the Church 
has adopted by which to measure the spiritual di- 
mensions of the candidates. How often is it the 
case that the bold and self-confident are cordially 
welcomed and received, whilst the meek and the 
humble are looked upon with distrust, if not in the 
end rejected ! 

The want of a perfect and scriptural organiza- 
tion of the churches. Of a proper reverence for 
the Lord's day and the Lord's house. In the 
ancient Churches they continued steadfastly in 
^^ the Apostolic doctrine and fellowship, in break- 
ing of bread and prayers. ^^ They kept the ordi- 
nances as they had been delivered to them by the 
Apostles. They had elders appointed in all the 
churches. They had no monthly meetings to hear 
experiences, and to administer baptism and the 
Lord's Supper. No quarterly meetings for extra 
visitations of presiding elders, and to take up col- 
lections to make up for past delinquencies. They 
had no semi-annual meetings for one to afflict him- 



20 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION 

self, by fasting and prayer, in order to partake of 
wliat is called ^Hhe Sacrament/^ — a name equiva- 
lent to a Roman oath, and derived from tlie Papacy. 
They had no yearly conferences or conventions to 
redeem the past, and to lay in an extra amount of 
piety for the future. But on every first day of the 
week in honour of the resurrection, the first Chris- 
tians met to read the Word of God, to hear the 
Apostolic teaching, to sing the simple but sublime 
songs, celebrating the praises of God and of the 
Lamb, to break the loaf and drink the cup, in re- 
membrance of the sufi'erings and death of their 
gracious Lord, and to give into the treasury of the 
Lord as they had been prospered during the previous 
week. To cultivate all kind and Christian sympa- 
thies and affections one with the other. To inquire 
after the sick, the bereaved, and the absent, and to 
devise ways and means to do good to all men, 
and especially to the household of faith. And 
lastly, we object to the use of far-fetched and un- 
scriptural terms as expressive of religious ideas and 
institutions, believing that a return to the pure 
speech of the Bible would remove many errors 
from the Christian Church, and unite us more 
nearly together. One of the great evils which 
resulted from the captivity of the Jews in Babylon 
was, that they lost the pure language of the 
Hebrew and adopted the mixed speech of the 
Chaldean. Many of the terms now emplojT'ed in" 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 21 

the Christian Church are wholly unmeaning, others 
convey false ideas, and some, though right in the 
main, yet are foreign to the pure speech of the 
kingdom. We will enumerate a few of these 
mixed and Babylonish terms which need to be 
expurgated : as ^^ Trinity — Eternal Son — Sovereign 
Grace — Spiritual Life — Spiritual Death — Original 
Sin and Total Depravity — Effectual Calling — Free 
Will — Free Grace — Eternal Election — Eternal 
Justification — The Perseverance of the Saints — 
Elect World — Elect Infants — Light of Nature — 
Natural Religion — General and Particular Atone- 
ment — Legal and Evangelical Repentance — Faith 
to Believe — The Christian Sabbath — Holy Sacra- 
ments,'' &c., &c. 

These, and similar phrases, have introduced a new 
language into the Kingdom of God, and which has 
been the fruitful occasion of endless disputations 
and strife. With us we choose to call Christian 
things by Christian names. We do not seek, how- 
ever, to detect heresies in the use simply of words ; 
nor do we make a man an offender for a word. 

If in the Christian profession men are willing 
freely to speak of Christ in the language of the 
Spirit — to give him all the names found in the New 
Testament — to repeat what he has said in good 
faith, and to re-report what he did; if they are 
willing to believe what the Prophets and Apostles 
have taught in regard to the Messiah, and to do 
3 



22 ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT REFORMATION. 

what he has required; we do not ask them for 
their opinions, their secret thoughts, their ill- 
digested and immature speculations. 

We require of those who seek to enter the Church 
of Christ, nothing more or less than what he 
himself required — Faith in him as the true Mes- 
siah as promised by the prophets ; the Son of the 
living God as revealed by the Father, with a wil- 
lingness to render a cheerful obedience to him as 
Lord and Christ. We teach that '' Jesus, the 
Messiah, the Son of the living God,^^ is the only 
foundation of the Church, and "the belief of which 
the only test of Christian qualification for member- 
ship, as it is the only basis of Christian union and 
communion among the Disciples of Christ. 

We believe in the one Lord, and the one Faith, 
and the one Baptism ; the one body, and the one 
spirit, and the one hope of our calling ; the one 
God and Father of all, who is above all, and in all 
Christians. And we earnestly pray in the language 
of Christ, that all may be one who believe on him 
through the word of the Father as given us by the 
Apostles — that word which announced the grandest 
of all oracles, '' Behold my Son the beloved, in 
whom I am well pleased;'^ and that, believing this, 
and submitting to his authority, the Church may 
be restored to its original unity, and the world 
thereby converted to jjrod.- 



ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES OF THE 
REFORMATION. 

The Church originally was one, and has been 
spoken of in the Scriptures by various names, all 
descriptive of this unity : as for instance, the King- 
dom — the Kingdom of Heaven — the Vineyard — 
the Vine — the Bride — the Lamb's Wife — the Ta- 
bernacle — the Body, of which Christ is the Head — 
the Temple of God. These and similar words are 
employed by the inspired writers to represent the 
Church, as one united and harmonious community, 
and such it was at the beginning, but not so now ; 
and from present appearances, it is to be feared 
that it will never be again. 

The spirit of faction very early appeared in the 
Christian Church, and warnings were often given 
by the Saviour and his Apostles on this head. The 
leaven was then at work secretly even under the 
eyes of the chosen Apostles, and their letters to 
the several Churches show how much they felt 
upon this subject. The jealousy with which they 
guarded the Church from all tendencies towards 
schism, and denounced those who should thus 



iJ'± 



ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES 



destroy the Temple of God^ '^ wliicli Temple ye 
are/'' may be seen in all their epistles. 

The great divisions of tlie Church, as found on 
the historic page, are the Greek and Latin, tlie 
Papist and Protestant, and, in more modern times, 
the Protestant sects.. Among the latter may be 
enumerated, under their respective names, the fol- 
lowing, each of which again are divided into nu- 
merous parties : namely, the Episcopalians, the 
Presbyterians, the Lutherans, the Methodists^ the 
Independents, and the Baptists. 

Whilst there are but few lines of distinction in 
doctrine, separating these great parties, they have 
arranged themselves under different forms of 
Church government, and have thereby destroyed 
the visible unity of the Body of Christ. 

There are no solid reasons to be assigned^ why 
all the Psedobaptist Churches, so far as faith and 
principle are concerned, should not unite as one. 
And the same may be said of all those who wear 
the name of Baptist. Especially so, in regard to 
the great and dominant parties which w^e have now 
enumerated. The faith and the piety of the one 
is the same in all, and would pass current through- 
out the entire domain of these respective divisions 
of Protestant Christendom. They agree in faith, 
in doctrine, in everything which constitutes Chris- 
tian character, in all that is essential to piety and 
Christian worship ; and only differ in reference to 



OF THE REFORMATION. 25 

certain peculiarities in their organization, in eccle- 
siastical policy, and government. 

These divisions have arrayed the respective par- 
ties one against the other. They have weakened 
the energies of the Church, and dried up her re- 
sources. The success of the one party is at the ex- 
pense of all the rest, whilst the contentions and strifes 
of all are the occasion of distrust and jealousy, if not 
of secret and open hostility against the unity of the 
true Church of God, or any attempts to restore it in 
our midst. 

In truth, they have destroyed the visible unity of 
the Church, and, like a family or kingdom arrayed 
against itself, they cannot stand. 

In ancient times it was enough to say, '^ I am a 
Disciple/' — ^^ a Christian.^' And this was a pass- 
port into the Church as found in all parts of the 
world. 

But as in the Church of Corinth some said, ^' I 
am of Paul,'' and others, ^^ I am of Apollos, and I 
of Cephas,'' now it is, ^^I am of Luther'* — and 
^* I of Calvin" — and ^' I of Wesley." It is now 
deemed an arrogant assumption for one to style 
himself a disciple of Christ, or a Christian. The 
very name itself has fallen into disuse and reproach, 
only as a generic to distinguish the parties professing 
Christianity, from Paganism, Judaism, and Ma- 
hommedanism. Like the tent which the fairy gave 
to Prince Ahmed, it is now so small that it may be 
3* 



26 



ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES 



carried in one^s hand, and when stretched out, will 
spread not only over the armies of powerful nations, 
but over all the parties, Papal and Protestant, which 
sit under its shadow. 

The reformation we now plead, is a return to 
original Christianity, in matter and spirit, in faith 
and worship. It does not seek to establish a new 
sectj nor to reform an old one, nor yet to unite and 
harmonize the parties now in the field. Its highest 
aim is to restore the ancient Gospel and Apostolic 
institutions and worship to the world and to the 
Church. 

We believe that much of its faith and worship 
have been set aside or rendered vain and empty by 
new elements introduced into the divine institutions. 

All attempts hitherto known to reform a religi- 
ous party, have only added another to those already 
in existence; and, therefore, the many sects which 
have grown out of the Westminster Confession of 
Paith, both in Europe and in America. This con- 
fession originated in the sittinoj-s of one hundred 
and twenty reverend gentlemen, ten peers, and 
twenty commoners of illustrious birth, called to- 
gether in the chapel, called the King's Chapel, on 
the first of July, 1643. This famous creed has 
been tlie occasion of forming a new religious party 
during every twenty years since it originated. 
And yet it was made to settle differences, to keep 
down heresies, to destroy all sectional tendencies^ 



OF THE REFORMATION. 27 

and to unite into one harmonious brotherhood all 
who should adopt it as the symbol of their faith. 

In this city, and in all the cities of the Union, 
we see its effects in the numerous sects which ad- 
here to it; and, especially, in the two grand divi- 
sions of modern times, of New and Old School 
Presbyterians, which alike claim it as the founda- 
tion of their respective parties; and yet neither 
will acknowledge the other as having any right to 
do so, and refuse full fellowship and intercommu- 
nion, one with the other. 

Surely the history of this creed and its work- 
ings should warn us of the folly and the danger 
of adopting human articles of faith to the neglect 
of the divine creed of Christianity, as given by its 
Founder. '^ On this rock,'^ said Jesus, when Peter 
confessed that '' he was the Christ, the Son of the 
living God^' — " On this rock will I build my 
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it.'' 

The Baptist Confession of Faith was originally 
put forth by the elders and brethren of more than 
one hundred congregations of Christians (baptized 
upon confession of their faith) in London, 1689, 
and adopted by the Philadelphia Baptist Associa- 
tion, 1742. It is still adhered to by them, under 
the direction of the Association, according to the 
order of that venerable body in 1837. 

This Confession consists of twenty-four articles j 



28 



ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES 



and the only one that ought to have been adopted 
was the first, and this should have been presented 
rather as a preamble, than as an article of faith. 
It reads thus : — ^^ The Holy Scripture is the only 
sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving 
knowledge, faith, and obedience; the supreme 
judge by which all controversies of religion are to 
be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions 
of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private 
spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence 
we are to rest/' 

This testimony is true, and so far as it sets forth 
the Scripture as the only sufficient and infallible 
rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and Christian 
obedience, it is unexceptionable, and there the 
Church should have rested. On this basis it should 
have been founded ; but instead of this, numerous 
articles were adopted, which, true or false, are but 
a tithe part of the Holy Scriptures, and are pre- 
sented in a crude speculative form^ as much unlike 
the word of God as the bare skeleton is to the 
living body, or double distilled alcohol is to the 
living grain from which it is extracted. 

The article in this creed also which sets forth 
the nature of the Church, shows that the party 
which formed it, had more just and scriptural 
ideas of its organization then than now. For we 
do not know of any Church of that body that 
adheres to it. It reads thuS; — '' The Church is a 



OF THE REFORMATION. 29 

^ particular body^ gathered and completely organized 
according to the mind of Christ, and consists of 
officers and members; — and the officers appointed 
by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the Church, 
are Bishops or Elders, and Deacons/^ 

Thus, according to tliis article, the Churcb con- 
sists of ^^ members and officers ;'' tbe members of 
course are persons baptized or immersed on the 
profession of their faith in Christ, and the officers 
of each particular Church are simply, Bishops or 
Elders, and Deacons. 

Originally the Baptist Churcb had in it a plu- 
rality of Bishops or Elders, and from this they hare 
departed. They now have over each church simply 
a Pastor. They have dispensed with their ^^ Ruling 
Elders,^' an essential part of the Divine institution. 
They still retain the Deacons, but tbe Bishops or 
Elders in each respective chureb they have set aside 
and disbanded. 

In a work recently published by Elder J. B. 
Jeter, and endorsed by twelve ministers of the 
Baptist Church, he says, ^^ That it must not be for- 
gotten in enumerating the causes which facilitated 
the progress of the Reformation, that Mr. Campbell 
taught many important truths, exposed some 
serious evils, furnished some striking illustrations 
of Scripture passages, which, if not original, were 
new to his hearers, and laboured diligently to awaken 
an interest in the study of the Scriptures.'^ 



80 ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES 

He also makes this cod cession in behalf of the 
religious tenets of this distinguished Reformer : 
^^By some persons Mr. Campbell was suspected and 
charged with leaning towards Unitarianism. For 
this impression I have never found any good 
ground. In his zeal to introduce what he termed 
^a pure speech/ he rejected the words ^Trinity' 
and ^ Trinitarianism/ and also some notions, more 
or less prevalent, concerning the Trinity; but so 
far as I can discover, he clearly and uniformly 
maintained the doctrine of Christ^s Godhead, and 
the vicarious and expiatory nature of his sufferings. '^ 

Again he says : " Mr. Campbell holds many, and 
most important, principles in common with all 
Christians. Nobly did he vindicate the authenticity 
and inspiration of the Scriptures, and the vital prin- 
ciples of Christianity, in his debate with Robert 
Owen of Scotland, the champion of infidelity, and 
by that service entitled himself to the gratitude 
and commendation of the friends of morality and 
social order.^' Many similar concessions in this 
recent work are found, on all the ^^ vital principles'^ 
of the Gospel of Christ, in favour of the views 
entertained by Mr. Campbell on the nature of the 
Gospel, the necessity of faith and obedience, the 
Spirit's influence in connexion with the word, in 
conversion and sanctification, and in regard to the 
order and worship to be observed in the Church of 
Christ, and in the necessity for a reformation in the 



OF THE REFORMATION. 81 

Protestant churclies, and his own in particular. 
These^ coming from an adversary, after thirty years' 
acquaintance with the views published by the 
Reformers, and a searching inquiry into the pro- 
minent principles as held in common among them, 
are worthy of consideration by all their opponents. 
It may be affirmed that the causes of alienation 
and separation between them and the Baptists at 
large, are not so great as those which distinguish 
them from the Evangelical denominations with 
whom they interchange all Christian courtesies, 
except that of fellowship at the Lord's Table ; nor 
yet any greater than those which separate the 
different parties in their own communions. As for 
instance the Revisionists and Anti-Revisionists, 
the Free Will and Calvinistic Baptists, the Mission 
and Anti-Mission Baptists, the Gillites and th6 
Fullerites, the Particular and General Baptists, and 
ether divisions of this great Baptist family — not to 
mention the Open Communion and Close Com- 
munion Baptists; the former of which chiefly 
make up the Baptist denomination in England, and 
the latter in America. The points in which they 
differ from their Baptist brethren, compared with 
those in which they agree, bear no greater propor- 
tion to each other, than does the trembling lustre 
of a star to the meridian blaze of the summer sun. 
Whilst w^e would seek to express our sentiments 
with Christian simplicity and candour, we long to 



32 ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES 

see tlie day when bigotry and alienation shall give 
place to the influence of Christian liberality and 
love. 

We need not call attention to the system of 
p^'oscription adopted and practised in the West and 
South by the Baptists against the Eeformers. They 
were characterized by much ignorance^ bitterness, 
and malice ; and it would be well if the mantle of 
charity could be spread over the acts of the Dover 
Association in Yirginia, and other associations in 
Kentucky and elsewhere, which followed in their 
wake. The faithful historian in the future will 
pause to weep over the weakness and the folly — 
not to say the bigotry and malevolence which 
marked the era to which we refer. And many 
have lived to see the day, when they have re- 
pudiated these acts, and have publicly confessed 
their error and haste, their ignorance and folly in ' 
regard to them. 

Such precipitate and rash proceedings are inci- 
dent to all great movements ; and it is known that 
no bitterness and alienation are so s-reat as that 
which exists among members of the same family. 
But time and reflection will cure all these evils ; 
and we may hope to see the day when a better 
spirit and a larger amount of Christian liberality 
will characterize those who have opposed their 
brethren the Disciples. 

It would be well if the Baptist denomination 



OF THE REFORMATION. 33 

would look back to the history of the persecutions 
to which they were subjected, from the days of 
John Bunyan to John Rogers, and from his day to 
their imprisonments in Virginia in 1768 and 1775. 
An interesting case is recorded in their history 
in the days of Patrick Henry. Three of their 
preachers were brought to trial for preaching the 
Gospel. The indictment brought against them was, 
'^ For preaching the Gospel of the Son of God/' 
contrary to the statute in that case provided, and 
therefore disturbers of the peace. The clerk was 
readinor the indictment in a slow and formal man- 
ner, and as he pronounced the crime with emphasis, 
'' For preaching the Gospel of the Son of God,'^ a 
plain-dressed man dismounted from his horse, entered 
the court-house, and took his seat in the bar. He 
was known to the court and lawyers, but a stranger 
to the mass of spectators who had gathered on the 
occasion. This was Patrick Henry, who, haying 
heard of the prosecution, had rode sixty miles to 
volunteer his services in behalf of the prisoners. 
He listened to the indictment, the first sentence of 
which caught his ear, which was, " for preaching 
the Gospel of the Son of God.'' When the indict- 
ment was read, and a few remarks had been sub- 
mitted hj the prosecuting attorney, Henry arose, 
stretched out his hand, and received the paper. 
'' May it please your worship : I think I heard read 
by the prosecutor, as I -entered this house, the 
4 



34 ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES 

paper I now hold in my hand. If I rightly under- 
stoodj the King's attorney of this colony has framed 
an indictment for the purpose of arraigning and 
punishing by imprisonment three inoffensive per- 
sons before the bar of this court, for a crime of 
great magnitude — as disturbers of the peace. May 
it please the court^ what did I hear read ? Did I 
hear an expression, as if a crime, that these men, 
whom your worship are about now to try; and for 
what ?'' x\nd continuing with a low, solemn, heavy 
tone, '' For preaching the Gospel of the Son of 
God !'' Pausing, amidst the most profound silence 
and breathless astonishment of his hearers, he slowly 
waved the paper three times around his head, then 
lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, with ex- 
traordinary and impressive energy he exclaimed, 
^^ Great God !'' The exclamation — the action — 
the burst of feeling, were all overpowering. Mr. 
Henry resumed in an appeal on the subject of 
Christian liberty, of the most impassioned eloquence, 
in which, waving again three times around his head 
the indictment, with the same solemn exclamation 
to God, he concluded, ^^ May it please your wor- 
ship, permit me to inquire once more, for what are 
these men about to be tried? This paper says, 
^For preaching the Gospel of the Son of God/ 
For preaching the Saviour to Adam's fallen race.'' 
After another pause, in tones of thunder, he 
inquired, ^^ What law have they violated?' 



OF THE REFORMATION. 35 

The court and tlie audience were now wrought 
up to the highest pitch of excitement. The face 
of the prosecuting attorney was pale and ghastly; 
he was trembling with alarm and terror, and the 
judge, with a tremulous voice, put an end to the 
scene, now becoming extremely painful, by the 
authoritative command — ^^ Sheriff, dismiss these 
men !'' 

The reader will excuse me for the introduction 
of this narrative. To me, however, it is deeply 
affectinsr and su2:2:estive. 

A lesson should be learned from it by our Bap- 
tist brethren. They should remember that when 
few in number, the dominant party held them in 
contempt, persecuted and imprisoned them. They 
were then regarded as heretics, and disturbers of 
the peace. But they were then a purer and better 
people than they are now. This should teach them 
to treat with patience and much long-suffering, 
those who differ from them — and especially those 
so nearly allied to them. 

May we not ask with Patrick Henry, — Would 
that we could do it with half his energy and im- 
pressiveness, — '' what law (human or divine) have 
the Disciples violated V^ 

They have preached, to the best of their ability, 
^^the Gospel of the Son of God.'' They have 
preached salvation through his name, to perishing 
sinners. They have called upon all men every- 



36 



ORIGIN AND PRINCIPLES. 



where to repent, and turn to God. They have 
plead for a return to the Ancient Gospel of Christ, 
and to the order of things established by his Apos- 
tles. And is it for this that they have separated 
them from their communion, and denied them 
their fellowship and sympathy? On what evil 
times have we fallen ! Surely there is need for 
reformation, and for a return to the good old paths 
of the Prophets and the Apostles. 

In view of the tendencies of the corrupt heart 
to depart from the ways of God, the history of the 
Church and its apostacies from the ancient faith, 
the abounding corruptions of the Protestant sects, 
the destructive heresies which have crept into the 
Church, the Popish abominations which threaten 
not only the dismemberment of the state, but all 
that is holy and pure in the Church of God ; we 
exhort them to consider well the evils which have 
resulted from opposition to the attempt of restoring 
original Christianity; and to unite with the Disci- 
ples in reforming all abuses, in cleansing the sanc- 
tuary, and in bringing about that unity of the 
faith and worship which shall herald afar the con- 
version of the world. 



THE EEFOEMATION AS PLEAD BY THE 

DISCIPLES. 

In our attempts to find the causes wliicli lead 
to any great movement in the way of reform, seri- 
ous diflSculties often appear, according to the stand- 
point from which we view them, the prejudices ex- 
isting in the mind of the inquirer, and the field 
of vision he may survey. This may account for 
the difi'erent and conflicting opinions given in his- 
tory of the efforts of that sect called the Pauli- 
eians, which gave such a powerful check to the 
progress of the Papacy ; in which its power was 
for a time broken down, with all classes, from the 
great feudal princes down to the cultivators of the 
soil ; in which the clergy of the Church of Rome 
were looked upon with loathing, and their power 
despised. To the friends of the Hierarchy, this 
sect would be looked upon as the vilest and most 
abhorred of mankind, the massacre of whom would 
be an act most pleasing to God ; whilst to the his- 
torian of the rise and progress of Protestantism, 
they would be regarded as the lineal descendants 
of that sect — the Christians — which in the times 
4* 



THE REFORMATION 

of tlie Apostles were '^ every where spoken 
against/' It is certain that E-ome^ fearing that a 
single generation would see the reformed doctrine 
spread from the centre of Europe to Lisbon, to 
Naples, and to London, cried for help to the war- 
riors of Northern France, and appealed to all the 
baser passions, among a deluded and superstitious 
people, for aid. To the rapacious and cruel, she 
offered the rich bounty of flourishing cities and 
fertile fields ; and to the devout, pardons and in- 
dulgences sufficient to reward them for all the sacri- 
fices they might make in her behalf. 

The same observations might be made in regard 
to the opinions entertained of the reaction of the 
Papacy, after the rise of the Jesuits, under the 
preaching of Ignatius Loyola, the champion of the 
woman clothed in scarlet. To the Papist it was 
thought to be owing to the truth of the tenets ad- 
vocated by the Catholic Church, her unity, aposto- 
lic succession, and the divine power claimed for 
the supreme Headship of the Church. But, to 
the Protestant, it is more justly declared it was 
owing to the war which the renovated zeal of the 
Papacy waged against the degenerate Protestantism, 
a hundred years after the death of Luther. The 
contest in his day was between the pure faith of 
the Gospel and the bold infidelity of the Church 
of Rome; the indomitable zeal of the Monk of 
Erfurth against the ease and indolence of Pope 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 39 

Leo; between the Christian morality of the lie- 
former, and the vice and corruption of the leaders 
of the Papacy. But the zeal and purity of the 
Protestant nations grew cold and inconstant ; and 
while the war of the Papacy was pushed with the 
utmost energy against the Protestants, these di- 
rected all their resources against each other, and 
so have continued until this day. This will ac- 
count for the maintenance of the territory claimed 
for the Papacy, and the little success which has 
crowned the efforts of the Protestant world for the 
last two hundred years. With them it has been a 
civil war — a house divided against itself. With 
the Papacy, notwithstanding its numerous parties 
and opposing sects, they have always united against 
a common foe in the ranks of the Protestant faith. 
And while Protestantism remained at home, inac- 
tive and unaggressive, Rome built colleges, and 
richly endowed them to educate and send out mis- 
sionaries to the ends of the earth, for the propa- 
gation of her faith; and what she lost in one 
country, she would more than repay herself by 
the addition of new territory, either in the old 
world or in the new. 

Among the causes which rendered the reforma- 
tion as advocated by the Disciples necessary, we will 
briefly call attention to the following. 

1st. The imperfect and defective exhibition of 
Christianity among the dominant parties. 



40 



THE REFORMATION 



We do not single out any particular denomination : 
we believe that the objection lies against all. And 
whilst there were some, and still are, which hold 
to and maintain a larger portion of Christian truth 
than others, yet, in no single denomination, do we 
think that the Gospel, in its facts, commands, and 
promises, in its principles and privileges, is fully 
and faithfully announced to the world. And in 
regard to the ordinances and services of the con- 
gregation of the Lord, there is much that is want- 
ing to bring it up to that standard of duty and 
privilege found in the Apostolic Church. Undue 
prominence is given to certain points of Christian 
doctrine, to the neglect of matters equally as import- 
ant and necessary to be known and understood. 
And as there is much that is defective in the man- 
ner and matter of teaching Christianity, so there 
is just as much in the character of the individual 
membership as of the congregation itself. It is 
certain, that as is the teacher and his teaching, so 
will it ever be with the tau2:ht. The servant is 
never above his master — the disciple above his 
teacher. 

It should be an admitted fact that there is some- 
thing in Christianity higher and purer than any 
exhibition of it yet known. Partyism does not 
necessarily grow out of Christianity, but is in fact 
opposed to it. And although it may have unavoid- 
ably arisen from an attempt to reach a purer and 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 41 

healthier atmosphere^ it has failed in its aspira- 
tions, and has been doomed to descend to a common 
level with those it attempted to reform. It should 
be the aim of all earnest and sincere minds to rise 
superior to what may be regarded as accidental, 
and to reach a loftier faith and sublimer hope, on 
the original platform found in the Christian reli- 
gion. 

Under the pressure of the Papacy it was impos- 
sible for the human mind to arrive at that point 
by which it could survey the field of inquiry, 
which would lead to more extended views of the 
designs of the Author of the Christian religion ; 
and since the Lutheran Reformation the Protestant 
world have been struggling hard to maintain the 
vital elements of the Gospel of Christ, and in this 
she has nearly failed. 

May it not be the fact that the Church of modern 
times, in her attempts to reach the standard of 
duty found in the Christian religion towards its 
Author, she has lost sight in a great measure of 
those reciprocal duties which man owes to man ? 
The time may now have come, when this subject 
should claim a higher attention than heretofore, 
and a greater approximation to that standard of 
duty and of right which reverence for humanity, 
as taught by the Saviour, should prompt us to 
cherish. 

Christianity has singled out each man from 



42 THE REFORMATION 

the masses, and seeks to elevate and improve liira. 
It claims no dominion over the state, nor yet over 
communities of men, only so far as they are brought 
into that organism called the Church. Its appeals 
are made to the> individual man, — to his heart and 
his conscience, — and points out the duty which 
each owes to all others in every possible relation- 
ship which it recognises as lawful and right. 

It never transcends its own limits to interfere 
with the political regulations of the state, but 
seeks the purification of each of its members, and 
thereby removes all that is unjust and oppressive 
in human government. It asks no power from the 
state — it makes no appeal to the secular arm. It 
only asks to be permitted to pursue its own peace- 
ful career, working from the individual to the 
masses, and thereby reforming all that is wrong, 
correcting all abuses, and diffusing the principles 
of a sound morality throughout the body politic. 

Men, in their impatience to remove moral and 
phj^sical evils from the state, would defeat the ends 
of the Christian religion, and make it the instru- 
ment of persecution and insurrection. 

It should ever be remembered that so far as 
Christianity is concerned as a system, there is no 
room left for human progress. It was perfect as it 
came out of the hands of its Founder. No one has, 
no one can add anv new thouirht to it. It is unlike 
the subjects of political economy, mental and moral 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 43 

pMlosopliy, matliematics, and geometry, which ad- 
mit of any amount of development and progress. 

Christianity, like all the works of God, is the 
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. But while 
we thus speak in regard to it as a system, yet it must 
not be forgotten that in its operation on the indivi- 
dual mind and heart it never ceases to improve, to 
reform, to elevate, and purify. Its progress is objec- 
.tive; and so far as this is taken into the account, 
there can be no limits to its influence and power. 

We do not know that the New Testament shows 
any preference to any political form of government. 
It rather bids us to ^^ obey the powers that be/^ 
^'to render unto Csesar the things that are Cae- 
sar's.^' It reveals broad and eternal truths designed 
to operate upon the masses, in regard to the units 
of which they are made. It seeks to work out the 
regeneration of the race, by its appeals to the indi- 
viduals of which it is made. 

2dly. The want of a certain and infallible rule 
of salvation. 

Whilst the Scriptures are plain and explicit on 
this head, it is lamentable to witness the ignorance 
and failure, on the part of the popular sects^ in 
furnishing that information that is needed by the 
serious inquirer on this point. All sorts of doctrine 
by all sorts of people are taught on this important 
subject, whilst the public mind is left almost entirely 
in doubt and in darkness in regard to the means 



44 



THE REFORMATION 



of salvation. It was not so in the times of the 
ApostleSj it need not be so now. No directions 
can be given on any question of ordinary interest, 
more plain or explicit than those which are found 
in the inspired oracles, on the question, ^^ What 
shall I do to be saved ?^^ It is involved in no mys- 
tery, left in no uncertainty by the Apostles, and 
we have but to consult the heaven-inspired record, 
and all our needs are met, all our difficulties are 
solved, and the way of salvation is made as plain 
as the road that leads to any point in the Union 
from our city. This has ever been the method of 
God, in his dealings with men under every dispen- 
sation. 

Abel knew how to obtain justification, after sin 
had entered into the world ; and compliance with 
the plain directions given, was sure of obtaining the 
promise granted. 

This was also true in regard to Noah, and the 
temporal deliverance which he and his family 
enjoyed ; when the flood destroyed the world of the 
ungodly, moved by faith in the divine word, he 
built an ark for his own salvation and that of his 
family. His faith in God's Word, the ark that he 
built, his entrance and continuance in it, were 
not more certain to secure his salvation from the 
impending judgments, than are the infallible con- 
ditions upon which are suspended the salvation by 
Jesus Christ. The same principles mark the divine 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 45 

procedure in smaller aod more minute matters, 
aiFectino; the state and condition of individuals. 

The crimson thread of Rahab indicated the 
deliverance she and her family were to enjoy at 
the destruction of Jericho; a neglect of this 
simple command would have involved them in the 
common destruction to which that city was 
doomed. The same was true in regard to Lot and 
family ; they were to flee from Sodom and not look 
back, whilst the family enjoyed salvation from the 
fiery flood which desolated the cities of the plains ; 
a single act of disobedience resulted in the death 
of Lot's wife, and gave her as a monument of salt, 
to warn all future a2:es of the dano-er of disobe- 
dience to the commands of God. 

An error in regard to the means and conditions 
of salvation may prove fatal, and involve the loss 
of the soul ; and it is not to be supposed that this 
would be justly chargeable to God, who desires not 
the death of him that dieth, but that he should 
turn to him and live. 

The popular method of answering this great 
question of man's salvation leaves the mind in 
doubt, and fails to satisfy the anxious inquirer on 
a subject of all others the most important. 

Who has not felt the embarrassment to which 

we refer, when awakened to a proper sense of his 

guilty and helpless condition ? Who has not read 

and prayed and striven under the most serious 

5 



46 



THE REFORMATION 



difficulties, to ascertain what would be acceptable 
to God and satisfy tlie demands of tbe Gospel of 
Christ ? 

" 0, that I knew where I might find him !^^ has 
been the anxious language of many a sincere person 
besides that of the Patriarch Job. The Saviour 
has answered this searching demand of an afflicted 
conscience, by the most express directions in his 
Word. And yet such has been the mystery in 
which the whole question of man^s salvation has 
been involveji, in the apprehension of the public 
teachers of the Christian religion, that the sinner 
has been compelled to look into his own heart, to 
examine his own experience, to compare the exer- 
cises of his mind with those of others, and to seek 
for light from the Holy Spirit; when God has 
made it plain in his Word, and has assured us we 
have not to ascend into heaven to bring Christ down 
from above, nor to descend into the abyss to bring 
him up again from the dead, as though a personal 
interview was now needed; but directs us to that 
Word which is nigh us, even in our heart and in 
our mouth — the word of faith — the Gospel as 
preached by the Apostles : that, if we shall con- 
fess with our own mouth that Jesus is Lord, and 
believe in our heart that God has raised him from 
the dead, we shall be saved. Or, in the language 
of the Messiah, "Go, preach the Gospel to every 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 47 

creature ;^^ ^^ He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved/' 

A 3d reason which led to the reformation as 
plead among ns, was — The speculative, instead of 
the Evangelical view of presenting Christian truth. 

This has been for ages past a sore evil, and has 
been the occasion of great mischief to the cause 
of Christ. The Rabbis, in the time of the Saviour 
— the Pharisees and the Sadducees — indulged 
freely in it, and by their traditions made void the 
commandments of God. The Judaizing teachers 
in the Apostolic Churches, and the Greek philoso- 
phers, introduced their crude speculations into the 
house of God. The one taught that unless the 
Gentiles were circumcised, and kept the law of 
Moses^ they could not be saved. They idly spent 
their time in dwelling upon the endless genealogies 
of the Jewish tribes ; and the others dwelt upon 
the principles taught by Plato and Aristotle, and 
other famous philosophers among them. ^' Beware 
lest any man spoil you, through philosophy and 
vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the 
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ,^' said 
an Apostle. ^^Let no man judge you in meat or 
in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the 
new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a 
shadow of things to come; but the body is of 
Christ.^' 

The Gnostics of old, and the fathers of the 



48 THE REFORMATION 

cliurch^ have all indulged freely in the introduc- 
tion of a false philosophy into the simple teachings 
of Christ; whilst, in more modern times, instead 
of preaching the Word, men have taught their 
opinions about it. Instead of preaching the 
Gospel, they have speculated upon the subjects of 
original sin; total depravity; the need of the 
Spirit^ s influence; the mystery of the new birth; 
on general and particular atonement ; on the decrees 
of God; his secret purpose towards the elect; the 
final perseverance; or in answering the question, 
'' Are there few that be saved V^ These, and a 
thousand similar subjects, constitute the endless 
themes of the pulpit; whilst the sinner is left un- 
touched by the sword of the Spirit^ and starved to 
death upon the chaff, rather than fed upon the 
pure wheat of God's Word. 

Such was not the plan adopted by the Apostles. 
They announced the great facts of the Gospel of 
Christ. They preached Jesus, and him crucified. 
They made known the testimony of God. They 
left much to the apprehension of the popular mind ; 
and, in a bold, ingenuous manner, proclaimed the 
way of salvation to the ruined and the lost. They 
"used the language of men in revealing the will of 
God, and made all men see what was the fellow- 
ship of that mystery which had been hid in God, 
but now revealed to his holy Apostles and Pro- 
phets by the Spirit. 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 49 

Doubtless, one reason wliy the Saviour chose 
humble and unlettered men to preach his Word, was 
that they were incapable of preaching their own 
speculations. They were shut up to the Gospel com- 
mitted to their care, for they could not '' but speak 
the things which they had learned.^' The Sa- 
viour thanks the Father that he had revealed his 
will ^^ to babes/^ rather than to the ^' sages and the 
learned. '^ Thus it seemed good in the sight of 
God. Even Paul — the learned, the logical, the 
eloquent, the wise — was so eflfectually converted, 
and had such abundant revelations made to him ; 
was so furnished with all necessary aid, — for he 
had seen Christ in person, received the Gospel from 
his lips, graduated in the third heavens, and re- 
ceived his diploma from the Chancellor of the 
skies; so that he determined ^^ to make known 
nothing among men, save Jesus, and him cru- 
cified.'^ 

" But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel 
which was preached of me, is not after man ; for 
I neither received it of man, neither was I taught 
it, but by the revelation of God;'^ and he also 
says, " We can do nothing against the truth, but 
for the truth.'' 

The Apostles preached Christ that men might 
receive the Spirit — now the Spirit's influence is 
taught that men may receive Christ. They preached 
5^- 



50 THE REFORMATION* 

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip- 
ture, that men might be saved bj it from their 
sins — now men preach that the atonement was 
made for the elect, in order that the church may 
be saved from heresy, in regard to doctrine. 

Correct theories are now taught in order that the 
mind may be saved from error in regard to the 
system of salvation. Then the Gospel was preached 
that men might be saved by believing and obeying 
it. No theory of medicine, however good, ever 
saved the sick — no speculations ever raised the 
dead. It is medicine that effects the one — it is 
the power of God which accomplishes the other. 

4th cause. The misapprehension of the creed 
of Christianity, and a substitution of one of human 
device. 

This was an error of long standing, and one 
which meets us at every point. Human creeds 
had been in existence for fifteen hundred years, 
and were still rife in the churches. Every new 
body that started in existence put up one as the 
sign or symbol of its faith. Many and various 
were the reasons assigned for this practice, but 
none of them were deemed sufficient or reasonable, 
and all of them regarded by us as an assumption, 
at war with the peace and unity of the Church, 
and the crown rights of the King of Zion. 

There is but one creed of Christianity, and that 
was given to the world by God himself, under cir- 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 51 

cumstances of peculiar solemnity and authority. 
It was at the baptism of Jesus, and announced 
aver his head from between the parted skies. The 
nation which had received the Law from Mount 
Sinai, amidst the awful signs of the Divine pre- 
sence, once again heard the voice of the God of 
Abraham, laying down in express terms the founda- 
tion on which should be built the Church of the 
Messiah — ^^This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased/' The chosen tribes in the wil- 
derness had heard, fifteen centuries before, the 
voice of God, announcing the oracle that ^^ Jeho- 
vah their Lord was one Lord V^ And now, at the 
opening of the mission of the seed of Abraham — 
the Messiah — and in view of the dispensation to 
be put under his control as '^ Lord and Christ/' 
He again spoke, and authoritatively declared, that 
Jesus of Nazareth was '^ his Son, the beloved/' 

" On this rock,'' said the Messiah to his disci- 
ples, during his ministry, '^ will I build my 
Church/' 

This was the stone of stumbling to both houses 
of Israel, and yet it became the chief corner. 
This was to become the central truth, the sublime 
oracle, on which the whole system should rest. 

Every precept and command, every promise and 
principle taught in Christianity, derives its force 
and authority from this great truth. 

God had now put all things under the Son of 



52 



THE REFORMATION 



man, and was about to constitute him head, not 
only of a new empire, but bead over all things, 
the Father himself excepted, for its benefit and 
triumph, — angels, principalities, and powers being 
put in subjection to him. 

No church, to our knowledge, had been formed 
expressly on this foundation. If the truth was 
recognised, its importance was lost sight of, or its 
value depreciated by the introduction of foreign 
matters, which had claimed pre-eminence over it. 
Search the creeds of Christendom, and where will 
you find this great formula as a vital element of 
them ? Some but faintly mention his name, and 
none of them regard this oracle as of prime impor- 
tance in the Christian institution. 

The foundation of the Christian Temple was 
thus displaced, so far as the creed was concerned. 
The differential features of Christianity and Juda- 
ism on the one hand, and of all other systems on 
the other, was thus lost sight of. It was the privi- 
lege of the Disciples to replace this corner-stone, 
and the first to build upon it in these latter times. 
We began to call the attention of the world to this 
great oracle as supreme — to proclaim and defend 
it — to establish and prove it — to give prominence 
and vitality to it ; and the results were glorious. 
Thousands who had been insensible to the claims 
of Christianity awoke to its importance. Infidels 
in great numbers were converted ; men of talents 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 53 

and learning were struck with its divine simplicity 
and grandeur, and at once embraced the doctrine 
of the Cross, as exhibited by us. Thousands who 
had been turned away from the popular forms of 
Christianity, and were looking for something be- 
yond it, gladly hailed the rising of a better day, 
and were admitted into the Church. 

The chief mover in this great reformation held 
many debates on the elements of the Gospel, and 
one on the claims of the Bible as an inspired volume 
with Robert Owen, the champion of infidelity, and 
achieved a glorious triumph in favour of the truth ; 
and subsequently with Bishop Purcell on the Pa- 
pacy, setting aside the arrogant assumptions of the 
Man of Sin, and establishing the claims of the 
Church, founded on the Rock-Christ in opposition 
to the Church assumed to have been founded on 
Peter; and of more recent date, his debate with 
Mr. Rice on all the questions involved in this great 
advocacy, the results of which have proved the 
strength of the principles developed, as they have 
won large numbers over to the cause of original 
Christianity. 

But he has not laboured alone ; others of acute 
reasoning powers, of education and talent, with 
wonderful skill and address, have arranged and 
simplified the elements of the Gospel, in a form 
which will give them permanency in all coming 
time. They have descended to the very depths of 



54 



THE REFORMATION 



the foundation of the Christian Temple, and have 
discovered the rock on which it rests, so that there 
is nothing left for future labourers to do but to 
build thereon, by the aid of the mighty principles 
thus developed and brought to light in the Chris- 
tian Scriptures. 

Churches which had grown old and in a state of 
decay were revived and re-established upon the ori- 
ginal basis, and many new organizations have arisen 
in all parts of the land. And the word of the 
Lord grew as of old and ^' mightily prevailed ;'' and 
now in our own country, chiefly in the West and 
South, our numbers are daily increasing. In 
Canada and the Provinces of the British Empire, 
in England and Scotland, in California and in Aus- 
tralia, and even so far as Jerusalem, the cause we 
plead has made its converts. And when we recol- 
lect that the result of all this success is owing to an 
intelligent conviction of the truth, and the strength 
of the principles advocated, it is the more remark- 
able and encouraging. 

The sublimity and grandeur of this movement 
are not even properly appreciated by those who are 
its friends and advocates. It may be the last great 
effort to restore original Christianity before the 
^' King of kings comes.'' It is the trumpet blast, 
summonino; all men to the recosinition of God's 
Son as the Saviour of the world, and charging 
them to embrace his person, lest he be angry with 



AS PLEAD BY THE DISCIPLES. 55 

them, and they perish from the way when he arises 
to shake terribly the earth. 

It is but the repubhcation of that great truth 
which won its trophies from the centre of Jerusalem 
to the waters of the Tiber, from the publicans and 
sinners of Galilee to the members of Ceesar's 
household. 

'^ Behold my Son/' said the Father to the tribes at 
the baptism of the Nazarene. ^^ No other founda- 
tion can any one lay than that which is laid/' said 
the Apostles of the Lamb. No other do we want, 
said the first converts — and so we have also declared. 

Come, then, and embrace with all your heart, 
Jesus as the Son of the Highest. Touch his 
sceptre and live. Believe with all your heart that 
God has raised him from the dead, as the great 
demonstration of his Messiahship, and confess him 
to be the '' Lord to the glory of God the Father.'' 



CAUSES WHICH ORIGINATED THE 
REFORMATION. 

The theology of all religious institutions is in 
some respects foreign to the systems out of which 
it is formed; and is consequently imperfect and 
defective. It assumes the shape and form of the 
previous opinions and habits of the times in which 
it originated. It therefore is destined to undergo 
changes in the course of time^ and will either pass 
entirel}^ away, or be modified to suit the advancing 
progress of opinions which characterize the times. 
This will account for the unsettled spirit of the 
public mind on all subjects which belong to the 
department of theology. 

It should be remembered that so far as Christ- 
ianity is concerned as a divine system, there is no 
room left for modification or change. No improve- 
ment in art, no advance in science or philosophy, 
will ever replace it. It was perfect as it came from 
the hands of its Author ; no one can add anything 
to it, and no one can take anything from it. Like 
th( system of nature, its elements remain the same, 
and no disturbing forces can make it otherwise 



CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION. 57 

than it is. The only power that can alter or reform, 
much less destroy it, is that which gave it birth. 
And we have no reason to believe that he will do 
it. What may be the character of that age or dis- 
pensation which shall follow the present, we do not 
know. The Prophets and the Apostles have spoken 
of a glorious future in regard to the great principles 
of truth and righteousness. The knowledge of the 
Lord will yet cover the earth as the waters do the 
seas. The veil that covers all nations will be dis- 
sipated by the Sun of Righteousness, and the dark- 
ness of Paganism, and the blindness of Judaism, 
will be removed by the bright shining of the Mil- 
lennium day. But until that period shall arrive, we 
are compelled to adhere in matter and spirit to the 
^^form of sound words,'' delivered to us by the 
Apostles of Christ. 

In regard to all subjects pertaining to this life, 
there is ample room for progress ; and the stimulus 
which the human mind has experienced, has 
resulted in the achievements of all the wonders of 
the age. The subjects of political economy and 
human government, in mental and moral philoso- 
phy, in mathematics and geometry, and their 
application to the arts, admit of any amount of 
developement and progress. But not so in respect 
to Christianity. The first Christians knew as much 
of Christ and his religion, as any who have 
succeeded them. No one can be wiser than the 
6 



58 



CAUSES WHICH ORIGINATED 



Apostles ; none can add a new truth, to that which 
was taught by the Founder of the Christian religion. 
The same facts which underlie the Christian 
system^ the same commands and promises which 
gave origin to the faith and obedience of the con- 
verts in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the 
earth, produce the like results now. But while 
we thus speak, it must be observed, that every age 
witnesses new proofs of its divine origin in the 
fulfilment of prophecy, and the accumulations of 
the past become the inheritance of the present. 
And as time advances, new applications of Christian 
principles are made, in respect to human rights and 
privileges ; a larger spirit of Christianity is being 
infused into the whole system of philosophy, of 
legislation, and of the social institutions. These 
are gradually absorbing its principles, and by their 
secret and pervading influences, are assuming 
higher forms of beauty and perfection. And while 
it is no part of the duty of legislation to establish. 
and enforce any of the dogmas or institutions of 
Christianity, it may surely require that its code of 
morals — the purest and the best the world has ever 
known — shall be incorporated into the institutions 
of our country. Ours is not a Pagan, Jewish, 
Mohammedan, or Mormon government. The pre- 
vailing religion of the country is Christianity, and 
therefore an open Bible not only should be found 
in all our churches and families, but in our schools, 



THE REFORMATION. 59 

especially our public ones. And no hand should 
be permitted to shut, much less remove it, from 
the place in which our fathers put it. 

The Divine hand which led the Puritans across 
the ocean^ and preserved them amidst the danp^ers 
of the seas; which sustained them in their first 
settlements in an inhospitable clime ; which led us 
through the perils of a long war, and saved us 
from treason and disunion, and bitter dissensions, 
we should continue to recognise; and as they felt 
the influence of Christianity through all these 
strufTQ'les, and laid the basis of our o^overnment in 
its principles, we should not fail to accept the 
boon at their hand, and maintain the ascendency 
of its heaven-inspired morality, whoever may op- 
pose or deny it. 

But we proceed to inquire into the reasons which 
led to the proposed reformation ; and on this head 
w^e would observe that the spirit of partyism, in- 
stead of the spirit of Christian union, was one of 
them. 

On this subject we have had occasion to dwell 
in some of our previous chapters, but it is not 
by any means exhausted. It is an evil of great 
magnitude, and we propose to look at it in regard 
to the influence which it exercises over the minds 
and actions of those who come under it; and here 
we would observe that, in the first place, it is 
wanting in charity — a chief element in Chris- 



60 CAUSES WIIICK ORIGIN^S'TED 

tianity, and without wliicli all onr traditional or^ 
thodoxy is vain and empty. Chanty, or love, is 
the end of the Christian religion. For that was 
it instituted, and all its principles tend towards it. 
Any system of things which fails in this particu- 
lar must be wrong. And who needs to be taught 
that in this, there has been a most wilful departure 
from the desio-ns of the Christian religion ? We 
can scarcely exaggerate the enormity of the evils 
which partyism has brought upon us from this 
direction. Has it not separated families and 
friends ? Has it not arrayed, not only churches 
and neighbourhoods against each other, but states 
and kingdoms ? Its heartless formalism, its frigid 
theology, and its exclusive Pharisaism, who has 
not seen and felt ? 

All persons who come fully under the influence 
of Christianity are one in spirit and disposition. 
They feel alike, and sympathize truly with each 
other. Under the first bloom of the affections, 
awakened and kindled into life, they indicate a 
like origin and source, and show a common type 
and genus. They do not think even of the differ- 
ence which may exist in age, in experience, or in 
habits of thought or opinion. Having the same 
spirit of faith, they coalesce and unite on the great 
basis of Christian doctrine; and, if left alone, 
would live, and labour, and die together, as heirs 
of a common inheritance. But no sooner do they 



THE REFORMATION. 61 

fall under the influence of partyism, than the 
generous and kindly spirit of the Gospel is ab- 
sorbed, and they are left in the attitude of rivals 
or opponents; and, henceforth, in proportion i^o 
their zeal to build up party, and to defend the 
creed, is the separation widened between them. 
Thus the outgrowth of their piety is at the ex- 
pense of the noble charities which have their root 
in the rich ground of God^s benevolence, as re- 
vealed in the gospel of Christ. 

It is wanting in humanity. This is a serious 
charge to be brought against the partyism of the 
day; but it is justly liable to it; and we do not 
hesitate to say that its influence has been felt, 
deeply felt, in checking, and in some cases annihi- 
lating even the natural springs of benevolence and 
kindness, which the heart of man possesses, inde- 
pendent of the principles of Christianity. Who 
does not know that the exclusiveness and pride, 
the jealousy and rivalry, the persecution and vio- 
lence, which result from opposing sects, is at war 
with all the common and ordinary feelings of 
humanity? If the Jews, in their departure from 
Moses and the prophets, put to death the Messiah 
and murdered his disciples, what have not professed 
Christians done, in their zeal to sustain their party 
creeds and sectarian institutions ? Whilst we do 
not deny that the religion of Christ may exert a 
reforming influence over many persons blinded by 
■ 6* 



62 CAUSES WHICH ORIGINATED 

denominational pride, yet it is in despite of the 
"untoward influence which the spirit of the sect has 
exercised upon them ; and they would have grown 
to the full stature of Christian men and women, had 
they been left wholly under the influence of the 
Gospel of Christ independent of the sect. How 
often are we reminded in the writings of the Apos- 
tles, of the self-denial of Christ, who sought not his 
own; who considered not himself; who, though 
he was rich, for our sakes became poor; ^^ Who 
pleased not himself^' in seeking the salvation of a 
lost and ruined world ! How frequently are we ex- 
horted to love our neighbour as ourselves ; to 
please our neighbour for his good to edification; 
to let the same disposition be in us which was also 
in Christ Jesus ; to love even our enemies, and to 
pray for those who despitefully use us ; to do 
good to all men, especially to the household of faith ! 
Now these broad and wholesome precepts of Chris- 
tianity are neglected and despised, under the influ- 
ence of sectarian pride and presumption. And 
'^ what do ye more than others V^ may be asked of 
all those who are wedded to partyism, in matters of 
religion. Christianity does not create any new 
aff"ections in the heart of man. It only revives, 
directs, and purifies those which God has already 
given us. It opens up new channels for them to 
flow in, and new objects for their exercise. It cul- 
tivates our taste for whatever things are lovely and 



THE REFORMATION. . 63 

of good report. But partyism circumscribes and 
narrows down the limits within which our affections 
should play, and teaches us to love those only who 
love us. 

Our Saviour rebuked this spirit as seen even in 
the disciple whom he loved, — " Master, we saw one 
casting out demons in thy name ; and we forbade 
him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus 
said unto him. Forbid him not : for he that is not 
against us is for us. ^^ 

It is opposed to the wants and the interests of 
the poor. 

Whatever may be the respect which the Gospel 
has shown to all classes of the human family (and 
it has left none uncared for), it especially has made 
the most abundant provisions for the poor. Whilst 
but few of the sages and the learned, the rulers » 
and the princes of this world, embraced the Gospel 
of Christ, — the common people heard him gladly, 
and welcomed the doctrine which gave rest to their 
souls, and mitigated their sorrows, and relieved 
their burdens. 

"Thou, God, didst send a plentiful rain, 
whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when 
it was weary. Thy congregation hath dwelt 
therein : thou, God, hast prepared of thy goodness 
for the poor,^^ — that this passage in the Psalms of 
David had primary reference to the times of the 
Messiah, is evident from what follows : " The 



64 » 



CAUSES WHICH ORIGINATED 



Lord gave tlie Word ; great was the company of 
tliose that published it/' 

This Psalm contains one of the most specific 
references to the Saviour, as it celebrates his 
ascension to the heavens : " Thou hast ascended 
on high, thou hast led captivity captive : thou hast 
received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebellious 
also, that the Lord God might dwellamong them ;" 
aad therefore prophetical of the times of the 
Messiah. ^^The provision then, which God of his 
goodness has made for the poor,'' has respect to 
the Gospel. But even in regard to the things of 
this life, it is equally true that he has had respect 
to them. God has given the earth a wonderful 
power of productiveness, sufficient to meet the 
wants of all his creatures. Our hills and our valleys 
• stand thick with waving corn, to supply amply the 
need of all our earth's population; and there never 
has been a period when the supply was not equal to 
the demand. If one country failed in its harvest, 
if the fig-tree did not blossom, nor the ripened 
fruit was seen upon the vines ) if the labour of the 
olive failed, and the fields yielded no meat ; if the 
flock was cut ofi" from the fold and no herd was 
fattening in the stalls, yet in other countries there 
was not only an abundant supply to meet their 
own wants, but a surplus on hand for purposes of 
commerce. Thus, when there was a famine in 



THE REFORMATION. 65 

Canaan, in tlie time of Jacob, there was still a 
seven years* supply of corn in Egypt. 

It is the ignorance and thriftlessness of the 
people, and the extortion and cupidity of the rich, 
or the mal-administration of God^s bounties, that 
occasion famine and want. 

God has given seed-time and harvest, summer 
and winter, regularly to the world, and has multi- 
plied thirty, sixty, and even an hundred fold the 
seed sown, and abundantly rewarded the labour of 
the husbandman, so that not only has he had 
enough for himself, but a large supply for his 
neighbour. If the products of the field were 
justly distributed, there would be at all times a 
surplus on hand to meet any emergency that might 
occur. But we do not believe that any condition 
of society will ever be seen on our earth, until the 
millennium, in which the poor will cease out of the 
land. '^ The poor you have always with you,^^ said 
the Almighty. '^ I will leave in the midst of thee 
an afflicted and poor people,^' said God to Israel, 
^^ and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.'' 

But if this state of things, in regard to the tem- 
poral condition of the poor, exists, and will con- 
tinue, under the present suffering condition of this 
sin-stricken world, God has especially made provi- 
sion for the spiritual wants of the poor in the Gos- 
pel of his Son. 

He has loved the entire race, rich and poo^* 



66 



CAUSES WHICH ORIGINATE! 



He has sent his Son to die for the world, for its 
men and for our salvation. The Saviour on earth 
was a friend of publicans and sinners. Pie taught 
them the way of life. He wrought miracles upon 
their sick, their blind, and their deaf. He raised 
the children of the poor from the dead, and he 
fed them when hungry. And among other proofs 
of his Messiahship he said '' That the Gospel wa^ 
preached to the poor.'^ 

He chose poor men to preach the Gospel, so 
that the chief of the Apostles, to whom the keys 
of the Kingdom were committed, had no purse or 
scrip. '' Silver and gold,^' said Peter and John, 
^^we have none.^' And the Apostle of the Gen- 
tiles could say that '' He was sorrowful, yet always 
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as hav- 
ing nothing, and yet possessing all things.'' 

Of the vast multitudes who obeyed the Gospel, 
how few were noble ! how few were rich ! The 
Gospel appeals to the common understanding and 
wants of men, on subjects of the highest moment. 
They all have faculties to appreciate it. Even the 
profoundest truths of Christianity are brought ou 
a level with the weakest minds ; and it is wonder- 
ful to see what a deep insight many attain, whose 
education and circumstances are so limited in their 
nature. The Gospel, like its Author, is meek and 
condescending, lifting up its voice not only in the 
halls of learning, but in the humble paths of life; 



THE REFORMATION. 67 

in the highways and hedges, and along the great 
thoroughfares of this world. ^^To you, man, I 
call, and my voice is to the sons of men.^' Now 
it is a most fearful charge against partyism, that it 
does not make provision for the poor. It does not 
meet their spiritual wants. It is not careful to 
bring them under the influence of the Gospel of 
Christ. It leaves them on the great highway, 
without a guide to direct, a voice to warn, and a 
hand to lead. While the favoured few have every 
provision made for them in the erection of stately 
churches, whose heaven-directed spires would build 
the largest of chapels; whose fretted walls and 
costly garniture nurture pride and vanity, and the 
pomp of this world that is passing away ; the poor 
have no provision made for them. The dress and 
equipage of the fashionable churches put them to 
shame ; and even if the pews are not bolted at all 
times against them, as in a few churches, they will 
Dot sit by the side of those whose only ambition it 
seems to be to minister to the pride of life, and 
to while away an hour under the luxurious sounds 
of professional choristers, or the still more melliflu- 
ous voice of eloquent declaimers. 

Surely there is something in Christianity, higher 
and purer than any exhibition of it now known. 
The results, as they appear before our eyes, cannot 
be what its Author designed only to reach. 

We do not wish to be severe ; we do not claim 



68 CAUSES WHICH originated 

any riglit to break down the distinctions which 
exist among us. We have no faith in any of the 
infidel schemes to bring upon a level the frame- 
work of society. We do not think it possible to 
equalize in temporal matters the condition of the 
world. Nor do we think, if it was done, that it 
would continue for a day. But we do say, that the 
soul of one man, in the sight of God, is of as 
much value as the soul of another ; that Lazarus, 
clothed in rags, was of as much importance in the 
eyes of God as the rich man who fared sumptu- 
ously every day ; and, so far as his moral character 
was concerned, of more value. We do say that 
the servant in your kitchen, in the sight of God, 
is of as much value as the mistress who claims her 
labour, and leaves her uncared for, so far as the 
soul is taken into account. We do say that the 
apprentice in your shop has an equal right with 
his master, to consider the wants of his spiritual 
nature ] and that the day-labourer, who toils hard 
for a scanty pittance, is as truly an object of the 
Saviour's care as his rich employer, and should be 
brought under the influence of the Gospel of 
Christ, and partake of its richest enjoyments. 

Is there no need for reform on this head ? Let 
the Church do what our Sunday schools are doing 
— gather the rich and the poor together, and make 
the most ample provision for all ; and if any are 
neglected, let it be the rich — they can take care 



THE REFORMATION. 69 

of themselves. Let the great masses be provided 
for. Let them be educated, reformed, elevated. 
Apply the lever to raise them to that position, in a 
moral point of view, which the Gospel contem- 
plates. 

There would be no need for widows' homes, or 
houses for friendless women and children; no 
orphan asylums, no almshouses, no workhouses for 
the poor, no houses of correction, no jails and peni- 
tentiaries, no courts of justice, if Christianity uni- 
versally prevailed. There would be no masonic 
lodges, no odd fellows' temples, no sons or daugh- 
ters of temperance, no Howard associations. These 
are but shoots which have sprung up from the dry 
and withered trunk of a decayed Christianity. I 
do 6ot speak disparagingly of them. I only say, 
that if the masses had been cared for, they would 
not have been needed or known. 

The great body of the people are not brought 
within the pale of Christianity. They are left to 
perish in their ways, and no one cares for their 
souls. They are doomed to years of toil and suffer- 
ing, with only a crumb from the master's table doled 
out to them in scanty measure, and but little 
adapted to meet their pressing necessities. 

As it was in the days of Aaron, so is it now. 

'^ Wrath has gone out from the Lord against them/^ 

and the plague of sin is fast sweeping them away. 

Where is there now one with his censer, ready to 

7 



70 CAUSES WHICH ORIGINATED 

rush into the midst of the tainted population, and, 
standing between the living and the dead, arrest 
the plague ? 

The destroying angel is sweeping over the land, 
and consuming all upon whose doors the blood of 
sprinkling is not found. And where is the voice 
heard now like Abraham in behalf of the doomed 
Cities of the Plain ; like Moses in behalf of Israel ; 
like Christ in behalf of his enemies; or like the 
Apostles in behalf of the world ? 

As it was with the Israelites when smitten before 
Ai, so of the Church it may be said, '' your hearts 
have melted and become like water/' But get 
thee up; wherefore liest thou upon thy face? 
There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, 
Israel! Thou canst not stand before thine 
enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from 
among you. Up then, up ; sanctify yourselves, and 
the Lord will do wonders among you.'' 

If these things be so, do we not as a people pos- 
sess a large share of responsibility ? As those who 
ciy for reform; who demand a restoration of 
Apostolic Christianity; as the stern opposers of 
the corruptions of the church; as champions of 
the truth against error, are we not occupying a most 
dangerous pass — the very Thermopylie of the 
Church ? 

But where is our union of effort and prayer ? Is 
all our religion expended in the public assemblies? 



THE REFORMATION. 71 

Do we cry ^' the Temple of the Lord — The Temple 
of the Lord — The Temple of the Lord are we !" 

It is in the closet that we are to trim our lamps, 
to furnish oil for our vessels, to lay the incense, 
and leave it upon the golden altar. It is here that 
we are to gain strength for the public duties of the 
sanctuary. If the closet has been deserted, no 
wonder that levity has taken the place of serious- 
ness, that formalism has taken the place of devotion, 
lukewarmness of zeal, and indolence of self-denial. 

The influence of a church is in proportion to its 
piety — the piety of its members. But has not 
pride and worldliness, like a cankerworm, eaten 
into the very roots of all Christian churches, and 
left them shorn of their beauty and strength ? In- 
stead of living under the elevating influence of 
Christianity, they have brought themselves down 
to a level with the world. They seem to think 
that if they can gain as much of this world as pos- 
sible, as little of heaven will suffice to meet their 
spiritual wants. 

In the choice of society, in their modes of living, 
the tenor of their conversation, they pay far 
greater deference to the rules of fashion than to 
the demands of God's Word. 

How can we expect to prosper while this state 
of things exists ? Impossible ! The Great Teacher 
said, and his word cannot be gainsayed, — '* Ye 
cannot serve God and mammon. '^ 



72 CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION. 

GKristians ! Let your constant prayer be, — 
'^ Send out thy light and thy truth ; let them lead 
me ; let them guide me to thy holy hill, and to thy 
tabernacle.'^ ^' Repent, and do thy first works/' 

Has the pure gold become dim ? seek to burnish 
it anew. Has the fire become smouldering embers ? 
seek by prayer and self-examination, and the sup- 
plies of the Spirit of God, to revive it. 

Let there be great searchings of hearts among 
us to know where the difficulties lie, together with 
a diligent use of the means for our recovery. 
Then will the ^' Lord arise and have mercy upon 
Zion.'' '' Save now, we beseech thee, Lord. 
Grod; we beseech thee^ send prosperity.^' 



THE GOSPEL ;0F CHRIST IN OPPOSITION TO 
THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 

This subject is one of no ordinary importance, 
and deserves our particular attention. Other 
topics may claim a passing notice, as they stand 
related to the things of earth and of time, but this 
is one which relates to the soul and to eternity. 
And as we have but one message Sent to the na- 
tions, called the G-ospel, it is of the highest mo- 
ment that we know what it is, and attend to its 
authoritative commands. 

The Gospel in promise and in prophecy has 
enlisted the attention of the wisest and best men 
of all past ages, and cannot be unworthy our en- 
lightened consideration. It was the great subject 
with reference, to which G-od was pleased to make 
special and abundant revelations, during not only 
the infancy of the race, but in its more advanced 
state under the Patriarchal and Jewish insti- 
tutions. 

It was with reference to this, that after the fall 
a medium of communication was opened between 
heaven and earth, and angels ascended and de- 
scended upon the Son of Man. Silence for ever 
7^ 



74 THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN OPPOSITION 

would have remained over our heads, unbroken by 
a single word from the Father of Light, had it not 
been for the anticipated relief to be brought to us 
by the Gospel of Christ. Our race, having for- 
feited every claim upon the justice of heaven, 
would have been doomed to the darkness of an 
eternal night, but for the hope which the glad 
tidings of great joy have brought to us. 

The chains of darkness which bind the angels 
who sinned to their prison-house in ^^ penal fires'' 
to the judgment of the great day, would have been 
used for us, but for the grace which has been 
revealed therein. Sword in hand, insulted justice 
would have summoned us to appear before its dread 
tribunal, without redress and without relief, but for 
the blood of atonement, which had set its red seal 
on this message of mercy to man. 

For the introduction of this ^' golden age,'' — the 
reign of heaven, a long list of holy men were raised 
up, reaching from the gates of Eden to the wilder- 
ness of Judea, connecting the altar of Abel with 
the baptism of John, and both with the blood of 
Christ. '' Through faith, the just subdued king- 
doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, 
stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence 
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, grew strong 
from sickness, became valiant in fight, overturned 
the camps of the aliens ; .and women, emulating the 
courage of men, were made valiant in weakness ; 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 75 

others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, 
that they might obtain a better resurrection ; others 
had trial of mockings and scourgings, of bonds and 
imprisonments. They were stoned, they were 
tempted, they died by slaughter, they went about 
in sheepskins, being destitute, afflicted, maltreated ; 
of these the world was not worthy : they wandered 
in deserts, and mountains, in caves and holes of the 
earth. ^' Now all these ancient worthies, though 
commended on account of their faith, did not 
receive ^'ihe promise,^' did not enjoy its fulfil- 
ment, ^^ God having provided something better for 
us, that they without us should not be made per- 
fect.^' 

The Grospel then is both the faith and hope of 
sin-oppressed humanity, and in comparison with 
which, wealth and fame, earthly rest and peace — 
all that renders life and country dear, are as 
nothing. ^^ Seeing the promised good, the ancients 
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims id 
the land.'' 

Without the Gospel we should have had 

**No patron, intercessor none ; now past 
The sweet, the clement, mediatorial hour; 
For guilt no plea, to pain no pause, no bound, 
Inexorable all — and all extreme." 

From these considerations, may we not say that 
no duty is so imperative as that which demands 



76 THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN OPPOSITION 

our devotion to its claims. But before we can do 
so, we should first ascertain — ^^ What is the 
Gospel ?'' 

The Gospel is glad tidings to all creatures; a 
proclamation from the Prince of Salvation to the 
guilty and the lost, and proceeding from the 
highest authority in the universe. 

Many have been the proclamations sent of God, 
on special occasions, to man ; and all of them con- 
tain a distinct and clearly-ascertained message, 
leaving the mind in no doubt in regard to the 
objects proposed, or the duties required. These 
are characteristic of all messages proceeding from 
authority, whether human or divine. The Gospel, 
under the commission given to the Apostles, im- 
plies an official announcement. 

There are several proclamations to be found in 
the Old Testament Scriptures, which indicate the 
nature of such acts ; and to a few of them we 
invite your attention. 

God said to Moses, '^ Speak unto the children 
of Israel, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which 
ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations ;^' ^^six 
days shall work be done ; but the seventh day is 
the Sabbath of rest ; ye shall do no work therein.'' 
Lev. xxiii. 1. 

This is one of God^s proclamations ; and 
what can be more specific ? Surely, no Israelite 
could mistake its meaning, or fail through igno- 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 77 

ranee to attend to tlie duties required therein. Six 
days they might work ; on the seventh they should 
rest, and do no work on that day. 

In the Prophets, the word proclaim frequently 
occurs, and always with reference to a distinct mes- 
sage. Thus, Isaiah speaks concerning the mission 
of the Messiah: ^' He hath sent me to proclaim 
liberty to the captive, the opening of the prison to 
them which are bound,^' &c. Isaiah Ixi. 1. 

Amono; all nations, the solemn acts of war and 
peace are announced by proclamation; and they 
are always designed to be of a most definite and 
specific character. Many things may be said in the 
public press, and in conversation, and even in the 
halls of legislation, on the subjects of peace and 
war ; but none of these amount to a proclamation. 
Even the ruler of a nation may threaten to chastise 
a foreign foe, and make all necessary preparations 
for war; but this is not a proclamation. It is 
something that proceeds in due form from the 
sovereign authority of the state. And so is it in 
relation to the Gospel. It is a proclamation of 
mercy, sent to the nations, by the Prince of Peace ; 
a direct and specific message, couched in few words, 
so that he who runs may read. It should be 
placed on the corners of the streets, on the public 
highways and great thoroughfares of the nation. 
It is seen and read of all men. Such a proclama- 
tion must of necessity be made in few words^ that 



78 THE GOSPEL OF CHIIIST IN OPPOSITION 

all may understand it. It must be made in the 
language of those who are chiefly interested in it ; 
and by heralds and messengers, by the voice and 
the public press of the nation, brought within the 
reach of all classes of men — to every creature. 
Such, then, is the nature of the Gospel message, 
proclaiming peace by Jesus Christ, to those who 
are nigh, and to those who are afar off. 

Thus no historical records of the Old Testament, 
no biographical notices of the ancient worthies, no 
prophetical announcements, none of the sacred 
songs of the Psalmist of Israel, none of the wise 
sayings of Solomon, no moral precepts, none of the 
parables of the Saviour, no expositions of Scrip- 
ture, no letters sent to the Churches, no apocalyp- 
tic visions of John in the isle of Patmos, no moral 
lecture, no essay upon any of the elements of the 
Christian religion, no system of theology, however 
true, can be dignified by the name of the Gospel 
as proclaimed by the Apostles of Christ, no more 
than the discussions in the Senate or the House on 
the subject of war, and the ten thousand allusions 
to it, or conjectures about it, can be called a pro- 
clamation. Much is taught on every Lord's Day, 
and faithfully taught out of the Scriptures, which 
is dignified by the term Gospel, in the common 
acceptation of the word, but which deserves not the 
name. To teach is one thing, to preach another. 
Our Saviour both taught and preached, and so did 
the Apostles. 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 79 

We sliall now call your attention to several 
portions of Scripture, in which the word Gospel 
occurs, in order to ascertain the precise meaning 
of the term, and the uses to which it is applied. 

The first of these references will be found in the 
letter to the Galatians ; ^^ And the Scripture fore- 
seeing that God would justify the heathen through 
faith, preached the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, 
In thee shall all nations be blessed.^ ^ Gal. iii. 8. 

Here we have the Gospel — the Gospel preached 
to Abraham, and the announcement also that the 
Scripture preached this Gospel to him. And why 
is it said that the Scripture preached it ? Simply 
because it was first anpounced by God to Abra- 
ham, and afterwards it went to record, and became 
a portion of the inspired Scripture. It was thus 
proclaimed to Abraham, and afterwards written in 
the divine oracles, that in him, and in his seed, which 
was Christ, all the families of the earth should be 
blessed. This is what we simply call the Gospel 
in promise. 

Again, we have another application of the word, 
as used by Paul in his letter to the Hebrews : '^ For 
unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto 
them.'^ Heb. iv. 2. But what does the writer 
here mean to indicate by the Gospel, as preached 
to the Israelites? He means simply, a distinct 
announcement to them of the entrance into the 
land of Canaan, after the toils of their desert life 



80 THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN OPPOSITION 

should be past ; or at fartliest, their entering into 
that rest of which Canaan was a type. For the 
same Gospel, concerning a rest for the people of 
God, is announced to the Christians, as was an- 
nounced to the Jews. 

The Gospel then proclaimed to the Israelites 
primarily had reference to their entering into 
Canaan. But as David had spoken of another 
rest, which the Jews did not obtain when they 
entered into Canaan ; and, as this was spoken 
many centuries after the possession of the land of 
Canaan, the Apostle concludes that it still remains 
for the people of God. In a more extended mean- 
ing, therefore, as given by Paul, the Gospel here 
spoken of is simply a promised rest, in that land 
of which Canaan was a type. 

So fully did the Jews understand the nature of 
this proclamation, in its primary application to 
Canaan, that they trod the wilderness for the space 
of forty years in hope of its fulfilment. Some did 
not enter into that rest, through unbelief, but this 
was not owing to any want of distinctness in regard 
to the proclamation, but in consequence of their 
obstinacy and wickedness — their unbelief. The 
announcement was plain and simple, but they did 
not believe it; and, therefore, failed of enjoying 
the blessing that it promised them. This is 
equally true in regard to the spiritual and eternal 
rest proclaimed to us in respect to another world. 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 81 

To those wlio^ by patient continuance in well-doing, 
seek for glory, honour, and immortality — eternal 
life shall be. To such^ an abundant entrance will 
be administered into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

And ao-ain we have another use of the word as 
given us by one of the Evangelists : ^^ Jesus came 
into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom 
of God ; and saying. The time is fulfilled, and the 
kingdom of God is at hand.^' Mark i. 14, 15. 

Here Jesus is said to have preached the Gospel 
— the Gospel of the kingdom — the Gospel of the 
kingdom of God. And you will observe how spe- 
cific that Gospel was which he preached : he 
preached, saying '' The time is fulfilled.^^ The time 
spoken of by the prophets for this event to occur — 
*' the kingdom of God is at hand.^' It was now at 
their very doors. 

The language could not be more specific than if 
the superintendent of a railroad should stand at the 
depot and say : " The hour is now twelve, and the 
train is coming — it is at hand.^^ It is important to 
apprehend fully the nature of this proclamation of 
Christ, or we will not be able to distinguish between 
the Gospel as announced by him in person, and the 
Gospel as announced by the Apostles subsequently 
in his name. 

If the Gospel, as proclaimed by the Apostles 
under the last commission, is a distinct message, 
8 



82 THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN OPPOSITION 

and we are called upon to believe it ; if it presents 
certain commands, which we are called upon to 
obey, and promises designed to operate as motives 
to action ; then it is plain if we receive any other 
message in its stead, — obey any other commands 
not specified, or are moved by any other considera- 
tions not known in the proclamation, we may fail 
of receiving the Gospel altogether, and deprive our- 
selves of that salvation which it announces. 

Suppose, now, I should believe the ^Ye points 
of John Calvin — or what is familiarly styled the 
doctrines of grace — or the articles of the Westmin- 
ster Confession, or the liturgy and thirty-nine arti- 
cles of the Protestant Episcopal Church, or the 
twenty-five articles of the Methodist Episcopal 
establishment, or the six articles, more or less, of 
the Friends' Meeting, or the ten articles of the 
Free- Will Baptists, or the entire body of the faith 
as contained in the Philadelphia Confession, on 
which the Baptist Churches are founded. Is it 
certain that I shall, by so doing, believe the Gospel 
in matter and spirit, as preached by the Apostles 
of Christ? 

Certainly if the Gospel is in Calvin, it is not in 
Wesley. If in the Friends' Meeting, it is not in 
the Episcopacy. If in the Free -Will Baptists, it 
is not in the Bound- Will Baptists ; unless it can 
be demonstrated that two things essentially difi*er- 
ent are one and the same thing — that sweet is 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 83 

bitter, and bitter sweet; that light is darkness, 
and darkness light. 

It is most certain that, with all the apparent 
charity existing among the so-called Evangelical 
parties, if we take their respective creeds as the 
true exponents of their faith, it is more in name 
than in fact, as the faith of the one sect destroys 
the faith of all the rest. If any one of them is 
true, then all others which differ from them must 
be false. 

There are no sects in heaven; there will be 
none in the millennial age. They will be Saints, 
Disciples, Christians, then; and why should they 
not be so now? What they expect to become 
when the darkness is past, we aim to be now ; and 
as they affect not to know us by the Scriptural 
names of Disciples or Christians, but would wish 
us to assume some earthly badge of distinction, so 
they may in a future day so effectually change 
their creed and name as hardly to be able to know 
themselves or one another ! 

If the names of the respective parties in exist- 
ence are not in the Bible, then there is no need for 
them ; and if the creed contains nothing but the 
Bible, why is it adopted ? And if contrary to it, 
or not exactly in conformity with it, it ought to be 
rejected. As well might we call a planetarium re- 
presenting the solar system, the universe, and sub- 
stitute it for that system, as to adopt the creed as a 
better symbol of the faith than the Scriptures of 



84 THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN OPPOSITION 

truth. Will the planetarium give us day and nighty 
seed-time and harvest, summer and winter ? Will 
it furnish us with the elements of fire and air, earth 
and water, or light? Will it impart and sustain life 
in the vegetable or animal kingdoms ? No more 
can the creed ! 

Far easier would it be to give us a material struc- 
ture by human hands to take the place of the solar 
system, than a moral one to supersede the spiritual 
organism found alone in the Bible. It is here, and 
here alone we find our spiritual universe ; our sun, 
moon, and stars ; our light and fire ; our earth, air, 
and water. Here we find all reli2:ious truth arrans-ed 
in due order, and in the nicest proportions, by a 
hand that understands the wants of man. He ^^ who 
hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand^ 
and meted out Heaven with a span, and compre- 
hended the dust of the earth in a measure, and 
weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a 
balance '^ — He has given us His Word, and ^^mag- 
nified it above all his name.^' ^^Who hath known 
the mind of the Lord, that he should be His 
counsellor?^' 

But, says one, The creed is but an epitome of the 
Bible. The G-ospel of the sect then is only the Gos- 
pel in epitome, and not the true Gospel of Christ. 

Give us the Gospel as it came from the hands 
of the Author. This will make us wise to salva- 
tion, and perfect us in love. 

The Gospel as preached by the Apostles was not 



Wi 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 85 

from men, neither by men, but given by tbo com- 
mand and the revelation of Jesus Christ. '^ And 
if we/^ said Paul, ^^ or an angel from heaven (as 
now among the spiritualists) declare unto you a 
Gospel different from what you have received, let 
him be Anathema V' This is Paul's decision and 
judgment, not ours. 

The Gospel of Christ — What is it ? It is a 
great Evangel — glad tidings to all people. It is 
called the Gospel of peace — the Gospel of the 
grace of God — the Gospel of your salvation. 

Many are the references found in the New Tes- 
tament concerning the facts and principles of the 
Gospel. We call your attention to a few of them. 
^^ God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
beo'otten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life.^' 
'^ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all ac- 
ceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners, of whom I am chief. '^ " This is the 
record, that God has given to us eternal life, and 
this life is in his Son.^^ But Paul gives us several 
brief compends of the Gospel, from which we 
select the following as being the most perfect and 
complete. 

'^ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the 

Gospel which I preached unto you, by the which 

also you are saved, and in which also you stand. 

How that Christ died for our sins, according to 

8* 



86 THE GOSPEL OF CnRIST IM OPPOSITION 

the Scriptures, and tliat lie was buried, and that lie 
rose again the third day according to the Scrip- 
tures. '^ 1 Cor. XV. 1, 2, 3, 4. 

On this formula we would observe, that Paul 
reaffirms the Gospel that he originally preached to 
the people of Corinth. He declares that they re- 
ceived this message from his lips, and that they 
were saved by it, and now stood in it. In his 
proclamation to them he announced the following 
facts, — That Jesus died; that he died for their sins; 
that he died for their sins according to the Scrip- 
tures ; and that he was buried, and that he rose 
from the dead on the third day according to the 
Scriptures. These facts then as announced by 
the Apostle, he calls the Gospel, which saved those 
who received it. 

But in the Acts of the Apostles we have three 
discourses recorded, which exhibit most faithfully 
the manner and matter of the Apostolic preaching. 

The first is the discourse of Peter in Jerusalem, 
on the day of Pentecost : x\cts ii. The next is 
the discourse by the same Apostle, to Cornelius 
and family, when ^^ God first visited the Gentiles, 
to take out a people for his name.^' Acts x. And 
the other is Paul's sermon to both Jews and Gen- 
tiles, at Antioch of Pisidia, in which he repeated 
to the Gentiles what he had preached to the Jews, 
making no distinction between them, but preach- 
ino: to them alike, the same Gosnel : Acts xiii. 

These discourses contain a few plain facts with 



TO THE GOSPEL OF THE SECT. 87 

reference to Jesus of Nazaretli : that he sprung 
from David according to the flesh — the royal seed 
promised to him ; that he was approved of God 
by miracles, signs, and vronders; that he suffered 
the death of the Cross; was buried and rai^:ed 
again from the dead on the third day, and exalted 
to the right hand of the Father, as Prince and 
Saviour; made both ^^ Lord and Christ,^' and 
constituted the Judge of the living and the dead ; 
and that to those who should believe on him, 
repent, and be baptized, their sins should be for- 
given them on account of his name. 

Such then is a faithful account of the Gospel 
of Christ, as given us in these discourses. Those 
who received it as such, and complied with its 
requisitions, were saved by it. They are spoken of 
in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the epistles, as 
converted, pardoned, justified, sanctified, adopted, 
reconciled, redeemed. They are called saints, 
chosen of God, sons and daughters of the Lord 
Almighty, kings, priests, heirs of God, and joint 
heirs with Christ. 

Vv^hat need have we then for any other Gospel 
of salvation from anscels or men ? 

Let us hold fast the form of sound words, as 
announced by the Apostles, in faith and love. 

^^ I charge you/' says the Apostle, ^' therefore, 
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall 
judge the living and the dead at his appearing and 
kingdom, — Preach the word.'' 



WHERE AND WHEN WAS THE GOSPEL FIRST 

PREACHED ? 

We present this subject in tlie form of two 
questions, wliicli we will endeavour to answer in 
the light of Scripture testimony. Much depends 
upon the proper solution of this subject. For the 
want of clear and scriptural views in regard to it, 
much error and confusion exist in the public mind, 
both in respect to what constitutes the Gospel, and 
where we should look for infallible directions on 
the subject of man\s salvation. 

Christianity is a system of great beauty and 
order. It has its facts and dates. It is a matter 
of history, and deserves to be studied as you would 
study any of the records of the past. 

Unlike the fables of antiquity, or the false reli- 
gions of the pagan world, Christianity has its geo- 
graphy and chronology, its persons and things. 
No records have ever passed through a fiercer 
ordeal than the books of the New Testament. 
They have no parallel in the history of any other 
books. Their authenticity and inspiration; the 
allusions of the New Testament to contemporaneous 



WHERE WAS THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED '! 89 

history; its references to the state of public morals, 
and to the political and social condition of the 
Jewish and Pagan worlds ; to science and to phi- 
losophy and the arts, have all been critically ex- 
amined. The doctrine which it inculcates; the 
system of ethics it embodies; the character, 
honesty, and qualifications of its writers, and the 
credibility of their statements, have all been sub- 
jected to the most careful, and in some instances 
most malignant species of examination. But the 
ablest and most patient of all the adversaries of 
the Christian religion, both ancient and modern, 
have been compelled to admit even a large amount 
of historic truth in the New Testament, in favour 
of the Christian system. 

The New Testament contains the history of a 
great person — Jesus of Nazareth — and the estab- 
lishment of a new religious institution, of which 
he was the author and finisher. 

In the Gospel which he intrusted to his Apos- 
tles, there are facts and testimonies to challenge our 
faith; there are commands proceeding from the 
highest authority to secure our obedience, and 
promises of the most exalted character to inspire 
our hopes and to move us to action. It has, in 
addition to these, a constitution and creed, exhibit- 
ing great principles and truths, which need to be 
studied with care, if we would fully apprehend 
them. Much has been given us, in the form of 



90 WHERE AND WHEN WAS 

general precepts, for the regulation of our temper 
and lives, and adapted to the spiritual wants of our 
nature. We are not wholly left to the exercise of 
a servile obedience to specific laws and precepts, 
for this would be doing violence to the reason of 
man, and would render the volume which con- 
tains our religion too large and ponderous to be 
read and studied. 

All constitutional truth is important and vital. 
What is it that distinguishes our republican govern- 
ment from all others, but simply its constitution ? 
Unless, however, this instrument be understood, 
and its principles obeyed, it will fail to answer the 
ends for which it was given ; and so of Christianity. 

Judaism had its divine constitution, which gave 
it all its peculiarities. A departure from this was 
the occasion of all the evils which fell upon the 
nation of Israel during the different stages of its 
history. It was this that brought upon them all 
the judgments of God denounced by Moses and 
the Prophets, by John the Baptist and the Mes- 
siah. 

So great is the importance attached to Chris- 
tianity, that both its Author and the great facts of 
its history became the subjects of prophecy. Thus, 
events which lay at a great distance from the pro- 
phetic ages, and those which were nearer, invoked 
alike the spirit of prophecy. It is our object to 
call your attention to two of these : one with respect 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 91 

to the geography, and the other with the chrono- 
logy of Christianity ; or, in other words, the one to 
place and the other to time. Where then was the 
Gospel in fact first preached ? and when was it first 
preached ? 

In pursuance of our plan, we will attempt the 
answer to these questions. It was not first preached 
in the garden of Eden. It was here that sin entered 
and despoiled our race, but not here was the Gos- 
pel first announced to man. Eden, — lovely spot! 
the home of earth^s happiest pair; the garden of 
delights ! The only objects which now remind us of 
the innocence and loveliness of that blessed retreat 
are the flowers which bud and bloom in spring and 
summer, and throw their balmy fragrance upon the 
air ; and the birds which show their glossy plumage 
to the light, and sing their sweet carols to the lis- 
tening ear. It was not in Eden, where sin laid its 
blight upon the root of our common stock, and sent 
disease and death through all its fibres, and on all 
its fruit, in which the Gospel was first preached. 

Before they left those happy walks and shades, 
a promise was given them, '' The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the head of the serpent.'^ And thus 
in the judgment denounced against the foe, which 
had too fatally plotted their ruin, a gleam of hope 
was awakened, and a strong intimation given, that 
all was not lost ; and that in some way, to them 
unknown, relief would be sent. And thus, this 



92 WHERE ANI> WHEN WAS 

promise coming to them in the shape of a judg- 
ment threatened against the serpent^ became the 
seed of all the piety and worship which charac- 
terized the race until the days of Abraham. Mys- 
terious as was the language^ vague and indistinct 
as was the utterance, it awakened and nourished 
the hope of the ruined for centuries. It was hidden 
in the heart as a sacred earnest of a better day and 
a better life. It was as a sheaf gathered out of the 
field of God's mercies, giving promise that a richer 
harvest would one day be reaped, when the joyful 
husbandman^ with a shout^ would bring his treasures 
home. 

The Gospel was not first preached in Ur of the 
Chaldees, or in Canaan in the days of Abraham. 
To him the first strong utterance was given of a 
blessing to all nations, through his promised 
'- Seed.'^ And thus the hope of the world was 
hidden in the oracle granted to the father of the 
faithful. What was obscure in the threatening 
pronounced on the head of the serpent, was now 
better defined in the promise made to Abraham, 
with reference to one who is called his seed. This 
promise was repeated to Isaac, and also to Jacob, 
and by him to Judah, and finally was limited to 
David, the son of Jesse. It is said by Paul in his 
letter to the Galatians, that the Gospel was 
preached to Abraham, " And the Scripture, fore- 
seeing that God would justify the heathen through 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED ? 93 

faith, preached before the Gospel to Abraham, 
sajiug, In thee shall all nations be blessed." 
Gal. iii. 8. 

We must not be imposed on by a word. The 
term Gospel is of frequent occurrence in the 
Scriptures, and simply signifies good news. It was 
a joyful word, announced to the patriarch, that not 
only the Israelites, but all nations would be blessed 
in him. This was the Gospel in promise, but not 
in fact, just as the world had the promise of the 
Saviour before his advent. But the promise and 
the realization of it are two different thinsrs. The 
acorn gives promise of the oak, the bud of the fruit, 
but we do not suppose that they are one and the 
same. 

The Gospel was not first preached in Arabia, 

when the tribes assembled around the rock of Ho- 

reb. Here they received the Law, not the Gospel ; 

for the Law was given by Moses, the grace and the 

truth came by Jesus Christ. The Law, called by 

the Apostle 'Hhe letter" which kills, was quite a 

different thing from the Gospel, which makes alive. 

The one was the ministrv of condemnation, the 

other the ministry of righteousness. But the tribes 

were not left without some hope or means of relief. 

They still had access to God through the shadowy 

svmbols of their Law. The altar and the bleedinsr 

sacrifice, the incense and the burning censer, were 

seen amou«: them : and the Tabernacle was reared 
9 



94 WHERE AND WHEN WAS 

in their camp, and its solemn services were ob- 
served. The institution had its Sabbaths and its 
appointed feasts^ and its great day of atonement. 
The faithful worshippers could come to the one 
offering for the sins of the many, when they ap- 
proached the altar of sacrifice, though unconscious 
of its secret virtue^ and ignorant of the anticipated 
provision made for those under both covenants. 
*^ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new 
covenant, that by means of death, for the redemp- 
tion of the transgressions that were under the first 
testament, they which are called might receive the 
promise of eternal inheritance.'^ Heb. ix. 15. 

The true worshippers under the first covenant in 
approaching the altar of sacrifice, in some sense 
unknown to them, approached Christ, just as those 
under the second, in obeying the Gospel, come to 
him; though it would seem that the transgres- 
sions committed by the Jewish worshippers were 
not formally blotted out, until the Redemption was 
obtained for the sins of the world by Jesus Christ. 

The Gospel was not first preached in the wilder- 
ness of Judea. John the Baptist was the morning 
star of the new creation. He was a burning and a 
shining light — a voice crying in the wilderness, 
'^ Prepare ye the way of the Lord'' — a voice, dis- 
tinct and clear, breaking the silence which reigned 
in the prophetic heavens, and shaking the forests 



THE G03PEL FIRST PREACHED? 95 

of Judea, along the waters of the Jordan, and the 
lonely beach of the Dead Sea. 

John preached the baptism of repentance for 
the remission of sins. He was a bold reprover, a 
sterling reformer, a mighty restorer. But it was 
not given him to preach the Gospel of the grace 
of Grod. He lived as the connecting; link between 
the Law and the Gospel. His light for a short 
period gilded the hill-tops of Judea, until it was 
lost amid the superior splendours of the orb of day. 
The Kingdom of Heaven, in his day, was at hand, 
and he was sent to prepare a people for the Lord, 
by calling them to repentance and to a belief in 
him who was comino; after him — the Messiah. 

The Gospel was not first preached in Bethle- 
hem, nor in Nazareth, nor Capernaum. Parables, 
sermons, and instructive lessons by the way, in the 
synagogues, in the temple, on the hillside, on the 
sea of Galilee, were given by the Saviour. Innu- 
merable conversations he held with friends and 
foes. He preached the doctrine of the kingdom, 
announced his approaching reign, and developed 
the principles of his government. He gathered 
together the elements of his mighty empire during 
his brief sojourn on earth. One of the ancient 
prophets foreseeing the results of his mission, thus 
spoke of him : ^^ Behold my servant whom I have 
chosen, my beloved in whom my soul delights. 
I will cause my spirit to abide upon him, and he 



96 WHERE AND WHEN WAS 

sliall give laws to tlie natioDS. He will not eou- 
tend nor clamour, nor cause his voice to be heard 
in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break ; 
and a dimly burning taper he will not quench till he 
render his laws victorious. Nations also shall 
trust in his name.'' 

Thus the Messiah was to give laws to the 
nations, to the Gentiles as also to the Jews, and 
they should trust in his name. This was done 
when he sent his Apostles to the world under the 
commission to preach the Gospel to every creature 
and to all nations. The work of preparation was 
limited by him to his own nation. He was not 
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 
He was "- A minister of the circumcision on 
account of the truth of God, in order to confirm 
the promise made to the fathers.'' 

In person he did not preach to the nations. His 
labom^s were confined to the tribes of Israel. It 
will be remembered that in the New Testament, 
Jews and Gentiles embrace the whole family of 
man. But to these two grand divisions, a third 
was added; that of ^^the Church of God." Jews, 
Gentiles, and the Church of God, are the subdi- 
visions furnished us by the Apostle to the Gentiles. 

Jesus had chosen from the midst of his disciples 
twelve men, who had been wdth him from the 
baptism of John until the day of His ascension. 
They were to be his witnesses to the nations. 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 97 

He called them his Apostles, as lie was the 
Apostle of the Father. To them he gave com- 
mission on the day that he was taken up into 
heaven, to preach the Gospel to all nations, and to 
every creature, and promised them the Holy Spirit, 
to brins: all thino;s to their remembrance whatsoever 
he had taught them, to show thdm things to come, 
and to assist them as an advocate to plead his 
cause. These men were thus chosen, to carry his 
name to the ends of the earth, and to convert the 
nations. 

But where should they begin ? At Jerusalem — 
Beginning, said the Messiah, at Jerusalem. ^' For 
thus it is written, and thus it behooved the Christ 
to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day : 
and that repentance and remission of sins in his 
name should be preached among all nations^ begin- 
ning at Jerusalem.'' Luke, xxiv. 46, 47. 

^' Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon 
you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until 
ye be endued with power from on high;'' ^^ And 
they returned to Jerusalem with great joy." ^^ They 
returned from the mount called Olivet;" both Peter, 
James, and John with the other Apostles, and here 
they found a number of disciples, in prayer and 
supplication, waiting for the fulfilment of the pro- 
mise in rega*rd to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
Acts, i. 12-14. 

It will 2:ive additional interest to the facts now 
9 "^ 



98 WHERE AND WHEN WAS 

authenticated to learn tliat the Prophets Isaia.h and 
Micah predicted this event in language plain and 
emphatic. 

" The word that Isaiah saw concerning Judah 
and Jerusalem : And it shall come to pass in the last 
days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall 
be established . in the top of the mountains, and 
shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations 
shall flow into it : and many shall go and say, Gome 
ye, and let us go up to the house of the God of 
Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we 
will walk in his paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth 
the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem/' 
Isaiah, ii. 1, 2. Micah iv. 1. 

No fact is better established than that the capi- 
tal of the kingdom of the Jews was the chosen spot 
in which the Gospel was first preached, and from 
whence it was to go forth to the nations of the earth. 
To Jerusalem, then, we must look for the Gospel 
as originally announced by the Apostles to the 
world, and not to Eome or elsewhere. 

The Papal Church only goes back to Rome as 
the mother and mistress of all churches. We go 
farther back than Rome — to Jerusalem ; the Church 
m Jerusalem was the mother of all Christians. 
Gal. iv. 26. 

The Church of Rome boasts of being the most 
ancient of all churches, — the Jerusalem Church 
was in existence before her, and eave her the dis- 

7 O 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 99 

ciples of which she was formed. ^^ Strangers of 
Rome, Jews, and proselytes/^ were among the 
hearers and the converts first made under the 
preaching of the Apostles, in Jerusalem. Where 
then is her vaunted supremacy and priority ? 

The Eomish Church now existing differs as 
widely from the Church in Kome in the days of 
the Apostles, as Arabia Deserta from '' Araby the 
Blest,^^ or as a ^^ continent of mud'' from the Gar- 
den of Eden. 

The Papal Church now existing had its rise in 
the year of our Lord 606, when the Roman Em- 
peror, Phocas, constituted the Bishop of Rome a 
Universal Bishop — from thence is she known in 
prophetic history as '^ The Apostacy,'' ^^The Man of 
Sin,'' as ^^ Mystery, Babylon," ^^The Mother," 
not of all churches, but '^ of Abominations." 

We come to the second division of our subject — 
When was the Gospel first preached ? 

As the first was a question of place, this is a 
question of time. Time and place constitute the 
two eyes of history. If we can ascertain the place 
where a certain transaction was performed, and the 
time when, it will assist us materially to understand 
the nature of the event itself. Especially is it so, if 
the subject-matter is one of fact and of history. 
May we not hope, then, to obtain clearer light in 
regard to the original message announced by the 
Apo'^tles, from these ascertained facts ? 



100 WHERE AND WHEN WAS 

In answer to tliis question, we would observe 
tbat, according to the best cbronological dates given 
of the time when the Gospel was first preached, it 
must have been in the year of our Lord 33. Tibe- 
rius was then in the year of his reign 17 or 18 ; 
Pontius Pilate being Koman Procurator in Judea, 
Annas and Caiaphas High Priests. But, to ascer- 
tain with still more accuracy the time when it was 
preached, the New Testament furnishes the most 
conclusive testimonies. It was preached on what 
was called by the Jews ^* the Day of Pentecost ;'' 
a feast observed by them, which commemorated the 
giving of the Law at Sinai. It was called Pente- 
cost, because it was to be observed fifty days after 
the Passover; another feast of the Jews, which 
commemorated the slaying of the ^^ first-born,'^ on 
the night of the departure of Israel from Egypt. 

It will be remembered that Jesus was slain dur- 
ing the Passover week ; and just fifty days from 
this event the day of Pentecost came. And when 
it " was fully come,'' the disciples with one accord 
were all in one place in Jerusalem ; and, suddenly, 
there came a voice from heaven, as of a rushing 
mighty wind, and it filled the house where they 
were sitting. This preceded the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, and the power from on high; and, 
consequently, the announcement of the Gospel. 
So far, then, as the time was concerned, it would 
appear to have been on the Pentecost, which 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED ? 101 

occurred after tlie Passover during whicli our 
Saviour was slain. 

The appropriateness of the time referrred to, 
will appear from the following considerations. 

And first, from the close resemblance of the 
giving of the Law and the giving of the Gospel, 
both occurring about the same time. Fifty days 
after the first Passover in Egypt, the law on Sinai 
was given to Israel; and, in consequence of the 
sin of idolatry in the worship of the golden calf, 
there were slain by the command of God three thou- 
sand of the nation. Now, to show how exactly the 
type and the antitype agree, Christ was slain during 
the last Passover which legally was observed, by the 
Jews; and, fifty days after this transaction, the 
Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus was 
given. And, to show the superior grace of the 
Gospel to the Law, three thousand, instead of being 
slain, were brought to life by the head of the new 
institution, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And, secondly, on the day of Pentecost, the 
heads of the respective families of the Jews were 
required to bring the first fruits of the land to the 
place which the Lord should choose, and set it be- 
fore the altar of the Lord. These offerings, since 
the temple was erected, were always brought to Je- 
rusalem ; and now, on the day of Christ^ s corona- 
tion, the '' first fruits" gathered under the new dis- 
pensation, were brought to Jerusalem, and laid 



102 WHERE AND WHEN WAS 

upon the Christian altar. How striking is this 
coincidence ! Deut. xxvi. : James i. 18. 

And; thirdly, on this day, Jehovah, at Mount 
Sinai, was recognised as the King of the nation of 
Israel, and from his hands they received the con- 
stitution of their kingdom ; and so on the Pente- 
cost to which we refer, Jesus was crowned King 
of the New Empire, and sent down the Holy Spirit 
as witness of the fact. ^' Therefore, being by the 
right hand of God exalted, and having received of 
the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath 
shed forth this which you see and know.'^ Acts 
ii. 33-36. But, as if to show the importance to 
be attached to the events of this day, Luke, in the 
Acts of the Apostles, has not only given us the 
day, but the very hour in which the Gospel was 
first announced. He calls it the third hour of the 
day, answering to the hour of nine in the morning, 
according to our computation of time. 

But the last consideration to which we call your 
attention is, that it happened on the first day of the 
week — the Lord^s day of the Christians. 

Now, on the first day in the week of creation, 
light was created. God said. Let there be light, 
and light was. On the first day of the week, 
Jesus arose from the dead, and brought life and 
immortality to light. On this day a new Sun 
arose never to set. On this day he ascended up on 
high, and was received into the heavens. " Lift 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED ? 103 

up your heads^ ye gates, and let the King of 
Glory come in/' was the song of those Tvho bore 
him to the gates of the celestial city. ^* Let all 
the angels of God worship him/' said Jehovah. 
'^ Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies 
the footstool of thy feet.'' ^^ Thou art a priest 
for everj after the order of Melchisedeck." 

On the first day of the week the Church of 
Christ began — the first anouncement of the Gospel 
was made. How fitting that on a day, so hallowed 
in the recollections of men, the Gospel should first 
be preached. Hallowed day ! Pearl of all the days ! 
How dear to the hearts of the Christian ! It was 
given to sweeten the waters of Marah, and to heal 
the bite of the serpent. On this day the heaven 
of heavens sheds a strong-er lio^ht on the soul of the 
Christian. How sweet are its services, how glorious 
its recollections ! 

From the considerations now offered, it will ap- 
pear how necessary it is for us to go back to the 
place of the beginning, — to Jerusalem — to the day 
of Pentecost, to the second chapter of the Acts of 
the Apostles. 

It was here the Gospel was first preached. It 
was here the dew descended upon Zion — even life 
for evermore. It was here the Kins; sent down his 
message from the throne by his witness and advo- 
cate — the Holy Spirit. It was here the ambassadors 
of the Prince Messiah were all met with ^^one 



104 WHEN WAS THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 

accord/^ and ^^ Peter stood up with the eleven/' 
to open the seal of the new covenant. It was here, 
by special miracle in the ^^ gift of tongues/' the 
Gospel began to be announced to the nations. 

And as the ^^ first fruits" of the resurrection in 
the person of our Lord had been welcomed with 
joj by the disciples ; so at every return of this 
day, it should be hailed with expressions of grati- 
tude and songs of praise by all the redeemed. 

On this first day, the festival of the Pentecost 
meets with a higher and deeper significancy than 
among the Jews ; and should be remembered with 
thanksgiving, as it commemorate^' the ^* first fruits" 
2:athered out of the harvest field and waved before 
the Lord, when three thousand converts were made 
upon it. 

And we cannot but think, that any allusion 
made to it, and the wonders it records, occasions a 
deeper thrill of rapture in the minds of the x\postles, 
to know that the events of that day are still fresh 
in the recollections of the Saints, and that there 
are those in these latter times, who rejoice in the 
fulness of that salvation which it brought to the 
sons of men. 



BY WHOM WAS THE GOSPEL FIRST 
PREACHED ? 

We have ascertained the place where^ and the 
time when, the Gospel was first preached. It now 
remains for us to consider the person by whom it 
was first preached. 

There is no one who may not obtain a large 
degree of importance in the eyes of men, by being 
placed in stations of great responsibility, or as a 
medium of communication to others. Moses, in 
the bulrushes, held in his hand the destinies of a 
nation; David, the son of Jesse, tending his 
father's sheep, was destined to exchange the crook 
for the sceptre ; Jeremiah, before he was born, was 
ordained ^^a prophet unto the nations/' and Amos, 
^Hhe herdsman of Tekoa/' was commanded to ^^Go, 
prophesy unto my people Israel. '^ Thus heaven 
and earth may unite to cast a splendour upon au 
insignificant person, and ever after he shall be 
regarded as a consecrated person. 

We look even upon the lily of the valley and 
the clambering vine, with a deeper interest, from 
the fact that our Saviour gave them a voice to teach 
10 



106 BY WHOM WAS 

US lessons of humility and fruitful ness. Even 
those places wliich have given birth to great and 
good men^ we visit with pleasure ; and the humble 
graveyard which contains their ashes we visit with 
feelings of awe. What stranger in this city would 
fail to visit the humble house of Penn^ to gaze upon 
its ancient walls, its lowly roof, and its now un- 
sightly form ? To him it possesses a deeper interest 
than the stateliest mansions or the proudest struc- 
tures of more recent times. And -who would be 
satisfied with his survey of the city, if he had not 
seen Independence Hall, and taken his seat in 
the old arm-chair, and looked at the old bell which 
^^ proclaimed liberty throughout all the land,^^ when 
a nation was emancipated and set free ? Not the 
palace of the Czar of all the Russias, nor the 
proudest thrones of Europe, are invested with so 
deep an interest as these. 

Gods ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts 
as our thoughts. He stains the pride of men. 
He displays the strength of his arm through the 
weakness of the instrument he employs to do his 
work, and dispels the vain imaginations of men. 
He puts down potentates from their thrones, and 
exalts the lowly. It was this that occasioned the 
thanksgiving of Christ, for having made choice of 
the fishermen of Galilee, rather than the sages and 
the learned; as the medium of his communications 
to men. 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED ? 107 

But the question now before us is, By whom was 
the Gospel first preached ? We mean that Gospel 
which, beginning at Jerusalem^ was to be preached 
as a witness to all nations. 

To Peter was this trust committed^ — a fisherman 
of Galilee. His name was Simon^ surnamed Ce- 
phas, a Sjriac word signifying a stone; and in 
Greek, Petros; in English, Peter. He was des- 
tined to become the Hero Apostle. He was the 
son of Jonah, and was born at Bethsaida, on the 
coast of the sea of Galilee. Originally he was 
a disciple of John; at least, one of his hear- 
ers; and from his testimony, and his own personal 
knowledge of the Messiah, he became one of his 
followers. He was a constant attendant on the 
ministry of Christ. He was doubtless present at 
Cana of Galilee, and witnessed the first miracle. 
Peter, James, and John were honoured with the 
special intimacy of their teacher, and were present 
with him on all occasions of marked interest. 
When the daughter of Jairus was restored to life ; 
at the transfiocuration of the Messiah ; at the ao-onv 
of the garden, they were present. Peter seems to 
have been married at the time of our Saviour's 
call to him, and moved from Bethsaida to Caper- 
naum, where his wife's family resided. And at 
Peter's house in this city, when in Galilee, Jesus 
usually sojourned. 

Peter's character incidentally is portrayed in the 



108 BY WHOM WAS 

writings of tlie Evangelists. His sincere attacli- 
ment to tlie Saviour is unquestioned. His bold- 
ness and presumption are marked features in iiis 
character. He is the first to answer all questions 
put to the disciples ; and his ardour and zeal knew 
no bounds. If occasion demands^ he can venture 
to walk on the sea, or draw his sword in defence 
of his Master. His self-confidence and weakness 
are both displayed in the loud asseverations of at- 
tachment to the Saviour, and in his subsequent 
denial of Him. But we see in the elements of his 
character, the man best adapted to do the work 
assigned him. 

He was frank and ingenuous, bold and intrepid, 
and ready for any work to which he was called; 
and his frequent faults and failures, his fall and 
recovery, chastened his heart, subdued his will, 
and humbled his self-confidence. But Christianity 
never destroys the characteristic features of the 
man, — it only sanctifies and directs them. And 
therefore the acts of Peter, after the ascension of 
Christ, were in keeping with his life before it. 
And thus was he the fii*st to propose an election of 
one in the place of Judas ; and the first to preach 
the Word on the day of Pentecost, and in the por- 
tico of Solomon's temple. He healed the lame 
man at the gate. The first who was imprisoned 
and brought before the Sanhedrin. He detected 
the fraud and imposture of Ananias and Sapphira. 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED ? 109 

He preached not only in Judea and Samaria, but 
was tlie first to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles in 
the house of Cornelius. 

It may be observed that Peter was the first who 
was called to be an Apostle of Christ. His name 
always appears first in the roll of Apostles. He 
was probably the oldest of the twelve. He was 
the last with whom our Saviour spoke before his 
ascension. Yet he never claims any superiority 
over the other Apostles. He calls himself an 
Elder, or Presbyter, in common with other Elders. 
And Paul took occasion to minister a rebuke to him 
for his Judaizing tendencies. If he had possessed 
any headship over the Church, Paul would not have 
condemned the Corinthians for saying ^^ I am of 
Cephas.^' Peter himself disclaims all headship in 
the cono-reoration in his celebrated defence before 
the Sanhedrin, as if he anticipated the claims which 
the Papacy would set u|) for him. ^^This is the 
stone which was set at nought by your builders, 
that is become the head of the corner ; and there 
is salvation in no other, for there is no other name 
under heaven given, or known among men, by 
which we can be saved.'' Thus accordins; to the 
testimony of Peter this ancient prophecy concern- 
ing the headship of the Church, is applied exclu- 
sively to the Messiah, and to no other under the 
heavens. 

AVe now call your attention to a remarkable pas- 
10* 



i I 



110 BY WHOM WAS 

sage in the sixteentli chapter of Matthew's testi- 
mony. A passage which has occasioned much 
dispute, and on an erroneous view of which the 
Papal Church has built up a system of spiritual 
despotism huge as the Alps, and still swelling and 
increasing like their thundering avalanches. 

On that memorable occasion, in Caesarea Philippi, 
when Jesus asked the disciples, -^ Whom do men 
say that I, the Son of man, am ?'' They answered, 
some say that you are John the Baptist, some 
Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 
But, ^^ Whom,'^ replied the Saviour, ^^ do you say 
that I am ?'' Simon Peter then answered, ^^ Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God.^' Jesus 
responded, ^' Happy art thou, Simon, son of Jonah ; 
for flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, 
but my Father, who is in heaven. I tell you like- 
wise, that you are Peter (named stone), and on this 
rock I will build my Church, over which the gates 
of hell (Hades) shall not prevail.'^ 

In consequence of this confession made by 
Simon, the Messiah said to him, ^^ I will give you 
the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever 
you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; 
and whatever you shall loose on earth, shall be 
loosed in heaven. ^^ 

The Bhemish translators of the New Testa- 
ment, in their note on Matthew xvi. 19, in which 
the keys of the kingdom were promised to Peter, 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? Ill 

say that this act ^^ signifies the height of go- 
vernment, the power of making laws, of calling 
councils, of the principal voice in them, of con- 
firming them, of making canons and wholesome 
decrees, of abrogating the contrary; of ordaining 
bishops and pastors, of deposing and suspending 
them : finally, the power to dispense the goods of 
the Church, both spiritual and temporal. More- 
over, it signifies that men cannot come into hea- 
ven but by him. The keys signifieth to open and 
shut.'' 

Such is the tremendous power that the Papal 
Church claims for Peter, by the keys, not only for 
him, but for his assumed successors — the Popes 
of Rome ! 

We do not know which most to be astonished 
at, the claims which the Papacy sets up for the 
humble G alilean — Peter ; or the audacity with 
which they pretend that the long list of ambitious, 
secular, proud, scheming, lewd, and mendacious 
Popes, male and female, should be his successors ! 
One would suppose that the only things in which 
they can lay any claim to have been his successors, 
were in his denial of Christ, and the curses with 
which it was accompanied. For these, like a 
stream of burning lava, have been sent through 
the w^orld, for the space of 1260 years. To this 
might be added the sword of Peter, which cut off 
the ear of the servant of the High Priest; only 



112 BY WHOM WAS 

they have used it far more effectually — in severing 
the heads of the servants of Christ ! 

Even Newman^ in his attempt to bring the 
Church into the arms of the Papacy^ is obliged to 
admit that the doctrine of the '' regalia Petri'' 
was unknown in the early ages of the Apostolic 
Church. But it is to be remembered, that the 
secret meaning of '^ Thou art Peter" was not 
developed until the political basis of the Church 
of Rome was in danger of being subverted by ths 
Bishop of Constantinople. It was then that Leo 
awoke to the importance to be attached to these 
words ] an d in his famous letter to the Bishops of 
Gaul, he thus writes *: 

^^ It was the will of our Lord that all nations 
should hear the truth through the Apostolic trum- 
pet ; yet it was also his pleasure that the blessed 
Peter should preside over the other Apostles in 
the discharge of this duty, that all the Divine 
gifts should flow to the body from him, as the 
head ; so that none could partake of the blessings 
of the Kingdom of God, who should dare to 
depart from the rock Peter. This office of Peter 
Christ proclaimed, when he said, ^ Thou art Peter,' 
&c. Thus was the structure of the eternal Tem- 
ple, by the wonderful grace of God, made to rest 
on the rock, — Peter.'' 

In the fifth centuiy, whatever outward appear- 
ance may seem to the contrary, there existed 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 113 

between civil society and religious society^ inco- 
herence, contradiction^ contest; for they were es- 
sentially different, both in their origin and in their 
nature. 

It was in the midst of this chaos of elements 
that the Papacy was born; of this society Leo 
claimed to be the divinely appointed head, and all 
the energies of a powerful and inventive mind were 
exercised to accomplish it ; and he too fatally suc- 
ceeded. Old Rome fell, and out of its ruins new 
Rome, civil and ecclesiastic, arose, and to this day 
exists. 

Simon Peter figures largely on the historic page 
of the Church, as he does in the great events con- 
nected with the origin and progress of Christianity, 
as it came from the hands of its i^uthor. He was 
called Cephas — a stone — the same as Peter, in an- 
ticipation of the confession he should make that 
^' Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the livinsc God/^ 
and the consequent use that Jesus would make of 
his name in suggesting the term, rock. '' Thou ai-t 
stone — a stone — on this Rock will I build my 
Church.^ ^ It will be observed that Jesus does not 
say on thee, a stone, will I build ray Church ; but 
just as the waters of the well of Samaria suggested 
to the Saviour the '^ well of water springing up to 
eternal life;" and as the vine of Judea suggested 
the saying, ^^ I am the vine ;" and the shepherds 
euardins: their flocks, the savins:, '' I am the erood 



114 BY WHOM WAS 

shepherd ;'' so the word Cephas suggested the say- 
ing ^' On this rock will I build my Church/' Other 
foundation, says Paul, can no man lay than that 
which is laid, that Jesus is the Christ. This is 
the chief corner stone; the rock of offence to 
Israel ; the foundation of the Christian Temple : 
and not Peter. 

There are two different stages of development in 
the life of Peter. The one was the period from his 
call to the apostleship until the resurrection of the 
Messiah ; the other from this event to the close of 
his life. In these two stages he appears like two 
different men, or as if possessed of a double nature. 
Nothing can account for this, but a consideration 
of the truth of Christianity, of which he was deeply 
convinced. No one knows himself until circum- 
stances shall develop his nature and character. 
How different the Peter, who stood shuddering by 
the side of a few lio:hted fa^rots on the nis^ht of the 
betrayal, and the Peter girt with fiery tongues on 
the Pentecost, when his soul was immersed in the 
spirit of inspiration ! What a storm of mighty 
eloquence was now poured from his lips ! What a 
surcharge of burning thoughts and pregnant words 
fell from his tongue ! and what a focal point did 
prophecy reach in that one heaven-inspired dis- 
course ! What an array of testimony and argument, 
of illustration and logic, of reason and persuasion ! 

The speaker had upon his head the fit symbols 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 115 

of those words with which he spoke, as the lambent 
flame gleamed over his swarthy brow. It shone 
not with greater intensity than the fire which 
kindled in his eye. No wonder that there was 
lisrhtnino' in such a cloud ! He was filled with the 
celestial fire. As he stood before that mass of hu- 
man faces, what glory environs him ! Though 
rough his features, and rude his form, he stands 
before the assembly as the personification of elo- 
quence. He hangs over the audience as a thunder- 
cloud, retentive of its lio-htnins^s. No one knew 
what was in him, not even the eleven. He did 
not know himself. He was like one of the mio-htv 
forces of nature, only in check until the occasion 
is demanded for its energy to remove the mountain 
and to toss the seas. How subdued and self-pos- 
sessed, and yet what promptitude and courage I 
What irresistible passion and power ! His was the 
greatest efibrt of speech ever made — the most 
efi'ective discourse ever heard ! The preparation 
for the discourse, the exordium in the sound of 
the mighty rushing winds, the cloven tongues of 
fire — the dread messengers of Jehovah — these 
could not have been misunderstood by a devout 
Jew ! Attention deep and agonizing was awakened 
in the dense crowd assembled on that day. Amaze- 
ment and doubt filled every mind, each saying to 
the other in subdued speech, ^^ What does this 
mean ?'' Some^ mocking, said, " These men are 



ilG BY WHOM WAS 

full of new wine/' But Peter, standing up witli 
the eleven, lifted up his voice and said, '^ Ye men 
of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be 
this known to you, and hearken to my words. For 
these are not dninken, as ye suppose, seeing it is 
but the third hour of the day/' Then follows the 
discourse, which wrought on the hearts of three 
thousand persons, and brought them as willing con- 
verts into the Church of Christ. 

How delightful to go back to the days of the 
Apostles, and catch the first words which fell from 
their lips, and listen to one of those men who 
preached the Gospel with the Holy Spirit sent 
down from heaven, and to witness its efi'ects. 
Here we have a discourse from one of Christ's 
ambassadors — a model for all those who wish to 
turn men to righteousness. It presents no specu- 
lative truths to the mind, and is entirely free from 
all those words which make up the nomenclature 
of modern discourses. He' did not employ the 
time of his hearers in listening to learned disquisi- 
tions on speculative theology or systematic divinity, 
such as God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, 
roiling the stone Sisyphus-like up the hill Difficulty 
only that it may come back with renewed force to 
commence the same endless task. It was not his 
work to pour water into empty sieves to be spilt 
upon the ground, or to pace the same bleached and 
wearisome paths without a purpose or an end. He 



THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED ? 117 

did not speak as the fatalist would, ^^ Wait your 
time/' ^^ Submit to your destiny/' ^^ You can't do 
any thing/' ^' If you are to be saved you will be 
saved /' but like the true philosopher, hearing of a 
fatal explosion of noisome vapours in a mine, in- 
vented a safety lamp, and removed the evil; or 
like one who having heard of a ship with its rich 
cargo sinking to the bottom of the seas, descends 
with his diving bell and brings it again to light; 
or like Hippocrates, the Prince of Physicians, hear- 
ing that a city of one of the Grecian states was 
depopulated nearly with the plague, stayed not in 
his own beautiful island of Cos to theorize upon 
the nature of the disease, or to meditate upon the 
evils of life, and exhaust his sensibilities in poetic 
sympathy and sorrow, but collecting together his 
remedies, and summoning his courage and his 
skill, he fled to their relief, and by a word of en- 
couragement here and counsel there, and the use 
of the medicines which experience had taught him, 
he arrested the hand of the destroyer, and received 
the gratitude of a city for his services. 

So Peter, when the question was asked, ^^What 
shall we do ?" promptly answered, '^ Eepent and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 

The subject-matter of Peter's discourse was pre- 
cisely in keeping with the true method of the 
11 



118 BT WHOM WAS THE GOSPEL FIRST PREACHED? 

inducth'e system of pMlosophy. He saw the wants 
of the people^ lie knew their precise condition, and 
prescribed the only means of relief. He did not dis- 
course on the endless themes of the Jewish or Pagan 
schools, the useless fables of the one, and the sublime 
theories of the other. There was no attempt to solve 
the enigmas of either, or urge his hearers to the 
attainment of frames and feelings of mind, which 
none could reach, or if reached, would prove to 
them utterly fruitless and vain. 

"We have now answered the question proposed by 
us at the commencement of this chapter. And 
it will thus appear that Simon Peter was the first 
man who preached the Gospel of Christ for the 
salvation of the nations ; and hence it will appear 
that neither Moses the lawgiver, nor Isaiah the 
prophet, nor John the harbinger, nor even Jesus 
the Messiah, was the first to preach the Gospel of 
the grace of God ; nor yet was it James or John, 
but Peter, to whom was committed the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven, which he employed on the 
day of Pentecost in opening the door to all those 
who inquired the way of entrance into it, and were 
willing to submit to the terms proposed to them in 
the message he was sent to proclaim. 

To him, then, must we go, if we would find an 
infallible answer to that greatest of all questions,. 
*^What shall I do to be saved ?^' and, having 
heard the answer, gladly receive it, and submit 
to him who is the crowned Monarch of the skies. 



WHAT IS FAITH, AND HOW IS IT OBTAINED? 

We should learn to distin squish between thins^s 
that differ. All who have thought and written 
upon subjects of a moral character, know the diffi- 
culty of finding suitable terms to express accurately 
their ideas ; and yet it is of the first importance, 
that the terms of a proposition should be used with 
caution and care. 

The only attempt at a definition of faith in the 
Scriptures is given us by Paul — ^' Now faith is the 
confidence of things hoped for, and the evidence 
of things not seen :'' Heb. xi. 1. And yet this 
is not a purely logical definition, as the Apostle 
rather designs to show that faith answers all the 
purposes of a demonstration, and realizes the actual 
existence of things not seen; and then proceeds 
to give the reader a number of forcible examples 
in illustration of the power of this great principle. 

There are three words which have often been 
confounded, but which differ widely in their signi- 
fication — knowledge, opinion, and faith. 

The first has respect to our own consciousness ; 
the second to the inference we draw from whatever 
premises may be before us; and the last is the 



120 WHAT IS FAITH^ 

induction we reacli from tte consideration of facts 
or testimonies. 

Opinions may be well or ill founded, false or 
true. Faitli may be weak or strong, according to 
tbe nature and amount of evidence before the 
mind, and the disposition of tbe heart towards the 
thing believed; but knowledge has in it all the 
elements of a demonstration, and therefore is more 
certain than either. 

The one may be possible, the other probable, the 
last certain ; and yet, in all the affairs of this life, 
we are governed more by the former than by the 
latter. In trade and commerce, in war and peace, 
in the pursuits of life, men do not ask for know- 
ledge, because it cannot be had. They satisfy 
themselves in regard to the possibility, and still 
more the probability of events; and by acting 
upon either the one or the other, or both, they 
often attain to the actual knowledge of things. 

We must not think that these definitions are 
puerile or unnecessary. The actual meaning of a 
thing, and the sense we form of it, are materially 
affected by the terms we employ; and indeed, 
words properly used heighten the impression, and 
give dignity to the sense. A word ^^ fitly spoken,^' 
says the wise man, is ^^ like apples of gold in a 
framework, or basket of silver.'^ The openings of 
the network will serve to display the golden fruit 
within, giving it additional beauty and attraction. 



AND HOW IS IT OBTAINED ? 121 

The figure is taken from the custom of putting 
fruit in baskets made of silver wire, which serve 
to heighten its beauty. 

What then is faith ? This question is not once 
asked in all the New Testament. The Apostles 
proceeded in their work of making disciples, as if 
their hearers fully understood all the terms they 
used. 

The Gospel was adapted to the popular mind, 
and the language employed in its exhibition was 
taken from the public mint, with its true value 
stamped upon it; and if at any time words were 
used not generally understood, or provincialisms 
were employed, the Apostles took pains to explain 
their signification. Such as "- Corban,'' ^^ Talitha 
cumi,^^ ^^ Aceldama,'' ^^ Golgotha,'^ ^^ which being 
interpreted, signifies,'' they add ; and then proceed 
to give their true meaning. 

Now it is evident that if the Apostles had used 
the term faith, the principle of all religious enjoy- 
ment, in an extraordinary sense, they certainly 
would have given a true definition of it. The 
fact, then, that they never attempt such a defini- 
tion, is proof positive that none was needed. 

We would observe that faith and belief are used 
in the New Testament with the same meanino- 
attached to them. They are the same word in the 
Greek of the original Scriptures. 

Faith, then, is simply the belief of truth, or the 
11* 



122 WHAT IS FAlTHj 

receiving of a proposition as true upon its proper 
testimony; and in order that the person addressed 
in the Gospel may have a distinct object before his 
mind on which his faith may repose, one great 
article or proposition is ever presented, viz. ^^ That 
Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of the 
living God/' This is the matter of faith — the 
thing to be believed. From whatever point in the 
whole range of testimony the Apostles commence; 
they lead you to this formula of religious belief. 
Prophecy and miracle both unite to prove and 
defend this s-reat oracle. 

To him all the prophets bear witness ; of him 
Moses in the Law writes ; and David in the Psalms 
declares that the royal seed of Abraham, the Son 
of the Virgin, is the Messiah, the Son of God. 
He was David's son and David\s Lord. When 
Jesus was asked by the people what they should 
do to work the works of God, he replied, " This is 
the work of God,'' the work which he requires, 
'' that you believe on him whom he hath sent.'^ 
And again, '^you believe in God," ^^ believe in me 
also." ^ 

Testifying, says Paul, ^^both to the Jews and 
the Greeks; repentance toward God and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ." 

When the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus 
descended, and remained upon him, ^' I saw," said 



AND llOVV IS IT OBTAINED ? 123 

John, ^^ and bore record that this is the Son of 
God.'' 

To receive Jesus as the Messiah promised in the 
ancient Scriptures, and the Son of God, as revealed 
by the Heavenly Father, at his baptism in the 
Jordan, constitutes the faith of the Gospel. He 
who accredits this, from the testimony before his 
mind, be it great or small, has the faith of the 
Gospel. His faith may be weak or strong as the 
force of evidence may or may not preponderate; 
but he has to all intents and purposes the faith 
which Christianity demands. There is a great 
difference between a grain and an ingot of gold in 
value and in weight, but not one particle in their 
nature. Both alike are gold. 

It is not knowledge of which we speak, but 
faith. It is not opinion, but belief. 

To bring the blessings of the Gospel within the 
reach of all men, they are promised, not to him 
who has a certain auiount of knowledge on any 
given subject, nor who has formed a correct 
opinion on certain matters of a speculative cha- 
racter* but all things are possible ^'to him,'' and 
to him only ^^who believes." 

Many persons are deterred from obeying the 
Gospel and uniting with the Church, because their 
faith is weak, defective, and wavering. This state 
ot mind may be rectified by an increase of 



124 WHAT IS FAITH, 

knowledge^ and an observance of such commands 
as tlie Saviour urges, in becoming a disciple. 

It will increase a man's faitli very much in a 
physician to take the medicine he prescribes, if by 
so doing it shall restore him to health. 

It increased greatly the faith of the Israelites in 
Moses, when they, in obedience to the command 
of God, went forward, in the passage of the Red 
Sea. On the opposite shore, when they found 
deliverance, they sung the praises of the Lord. The 
Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing, when he 
arose from the waters of baptism, and received the 
knowledge of salvation in the remission of his sins, 
through the tender mercies of our God. 

We have never seen an instance to the contrary, 
where a person confiding in the word of promise, 
though with trembling heart, obeyed the Gospel 
of Christ. They sooner or later rejoiced in the 
testimony of a good conscience ; and doubt and 
fear gave place to confidence and peace. 

It is with the deepest sympathy we look upon 
the timid, trembling sinner, awakened to a sense 
of his dansrer, castiui^r about him for some means 
of escape, finding all hope of relief in himself 
giving way ; the ground on which he trusted 
shifting like the earth shaken by some hidden 
fires ; or like a traveller descending some Alpine 
cliff, beneath which in the deep abyss he hears 
the angry billows growling and thundering; step 



AND now IS IT OBTAINED? 125 

by step with caution he proceeds^ estimating the 
sense of his danger by the measure of sound from 
beneath, and the keenness of his sight from above. 
But still he proceeds. 

'' My safety/^ he says, '^ depends upon my 
courage and caution, my decision and firmness. 
If I can leap this gulf and scale that height, I shall 
be safe.'^ By the utmost effort he reaches the 
point at which he aims, and finds only a projecting 
rock, forming the angle of a dizzy precipice, now 
revealing the awful danger before him. He stands 
mute with fear ; to advance a step further is im- 
possible, to retrace his steps is full of danger ; and 
while calculating the chances of escape, the rock 
on which he stands, by the additional weight of his 
person, begins to yield. He seizes upon the limb 
of a projecting tree from a crag above his head, 
and finds a momentary relief from the danger which 
surrounds him. Each unexpected difficulty only 
increases his alarm, and each new peril awakens the 
instinctive desire for self-preservation, until languor 
and weakness, irresolution and despair, take j)os- 
session of his mind. 

This gives but a faint idea of the agitation and 
suspense, the terror and alarm to which the sen- 
sitive mind awakes, under the apprehension of 
danger, so long as he trusts in himself. But let him 
look to Christ — the Rock of Salvation — and place his 
feet on him, and though the earth be ashes under 



126 WHAT IS FAITH, 

his feet^ and the mountains be removed to the 
depths of the seas^ and every deceitful refuge shall 
fail, and all the expedients of reason and the glim- 
merings of hope shall prove unavailing, he shall 
be safe. '' Their rock is not as our Rock/' said one 
of old J who had fully tried it. 

The Church built upon the Rock — Christ — shall 
never be overcome, and he who is placed upon it 
can never be moved. 

Faith is not an agreement with the opinions of 
others, however correct they may be. One may 
give his assent to the articles of the creed, and yet 
not have the faith of the Gospel ; at best it is only 
credulity, and should not be dignified by the name 
of belief. 

Faith is not the blindness of despair, embracing 
without a reason the Gospel, as the only expedient 
of salvation in danger. This is often done in 
extreme peril, as in a storm at sea, amid the 
devouring flames at midnight, in the alarm of an 
earthquake, on the bed of sickness, and in view 
of death. And not unfrequently philosophers, 
men of education, statesmen, and warriors, sick 
of the world, vexed and disappointed, worn down 
by the cares and perplexities of life, rashly and 
without examination, in fear and in doubt, but 
without the confidence which an enlightened belief 
inspires, have thrown themselves upon Christianity, 
as the forlorn hope of a bad and irreligious life. 



AND now IS IT OBTAINED ? 127 

But^ we repeat it, this is not the faith of the 
Gospel. It is the kist effort of the mined and the 
wrecked. 

To believe the Gospel is to acknowledge the 
truth of Christianity, that Jesus is the Messiah, 
the Son of God } that he died for our sins, and 
was buried, and rose again from the dead; and 
this with a reliance on him for life and salvation. 
And in all those portions of Scripture in which 
pardon and eternal life are promised to the believer, 
it is implied and understood that the faith spoken 
of is an obedient, living, working faith — a faith in 
the head, in the understanding, and the heart; a 
faith controlling the will, and directing the affec- 
tions; a faith that overcomes, that fights, that 
wrestles^ that prays, that comes to God, that en- 
dures, as seeins; him that is invisible. This is the 
^^ precious faith'^ of the early Christians — the faith 
of ^^ God's elect,^' that ^^ cries to him day and 
night." 

How is faith obtained, or what are its conditions ? 

On every other subject except that of Christi- 
anity, men reason upon correct principles. When 
this comes up for consideration, they think that it 
is rather a compliment to Christianity that they 
shall dispense with reason altogether. 

Christianity on the one side is eminently divine, 
on the other human. It addresses men as they 
are, and expects no new faculties to receive it as 



128 WHAT IS FAITH 



true, or to observe its conditions, otlier tlian wliat 
God has o:iyen tis. 

To believe the Gospel is to receive it as a divine 
I j message upon its proper testimony; 'and therefore 

the only condition of faith in the Messiah is the 
evidence which supports his claims. As there is 
no hearing without sound, no sight vathout light, 
so there is no faith without evidence. '' Faith 
comes by hearing'^ — by hearing '^ the Word of 
God.'' 

But we must clear away certain difficulties which 
have embarrassed this subject, and which prevent 
a proper understanding of it. 

1st. Is not faith the gift of the Spirit? We 
answer, in one sense it is. It is his gift, through 
the means which he has appointed. The whole 
institution of Christianity is called by an Apostle, 
^^ the ministr}^ of the Spirit;'' and the Gospel, 
in contradistinction to the law, is called the 
'' Spirit." And Jesus, in consequence of the 
spiritual nature of his religion, calls his words 
^' spirit and life." But we are not to suppose, 
from these expressions, that faith is a gift, bestowed 
without a hand, or an immediate gift without any 
conditions. This would be to destroy all responsi- 
'bility in man, and to deprive him of all agency in 
the matter of salvation. But even a gift may be 
rejected. A beggar at your door must stretch 



I 



AND now IS IT OBTAINED ? 129 

fortli Ills hand to receive your charities. There 
must be a hand to receive^ as well as one to give. 

"We will examine a few cases in which the per- 
sons are said to have believed^ and if vre can ascer- 
tain how they obtained their faith, it will settle the 
auestion in reo^ard to its conditions. 

Noah believed — and how? Being vfarned of 
God, and receiving it as time, he became heir of 
the righteousness which is by faith. ^^And God 
said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before 
me : for the earth is filled with violence throu2:h 
them } and behold, I will destroy them with the 
earth. ^^ God then required him to build an ark 
for his salvation, and that of his house; and 'Uhus 
did Noah; according to all that God commanded 
him, so did he f^ and so became heir of the 
righteousness by faith. 

Abraham believed — and how ? As he is the fa- 
ther of all believers, their type and representative, 
it is important to know the conditions of his faith. 
Hear what account 3Ioses gave of it : ^" And behold 
the word of the Lord came unto him savins:, This 
(Ishmael) shall not be thine heir; but he that 
shall come forth from thee shall be thine heir. 
And he broua^ht him forth abroad, and said, Look 
now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be 
able to number them. And he said unto him. So 
shall thv seed be. And he believed in the Lord : 
aud he accounted it to him for righteousness." 
12 



130 WHAT IS FAITH, 

Thus God spoke to Abraham — }ie heard — and be- 
lieved the word spoken. 

John the Baptist believed — and by what means ? 
This case is quite an interesting one, inasmuch as 
he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his infancy. 
Speaking of Jesus, he said, ^^ I knew him not, but 
he that sent me to baptize with — ^' or in'' — water, 
said to me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit de- 
scending and remaining, the same is he, who bap- 
tizeth with the Holy Spirit; and I saw, and bare 
record that this was the Son of God.'' It was not 
the Spirit that was in John, but the Spirit which 
he saw, that enabled him to believe. 

The Gentiles believed — and by what means? 
Hear the Apostle Peter : ^^ God made choice among 
us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear 
the word of the Gospel and believe." Acts xv. 7. 
Their faith came by hearing the word by the 
mouth of Peter. To this agree Rom. x. 14, 17, 
Eph. i. 12, 13. 

Instead of faith being the immediate gift of the 
Spirit, the Spirit is a gift to the believer — the obe- 
dient believer. 

Of the Bereans, it is said that ^^ They were 
more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they 
received the word with all readiness of mind, and 
searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things 
were so. Therefore, many of them believed.^' 
Acts xvii. 11, 12. 



AND HOW IS IT OBTAINED ? 131 

Thus, their faith was occasioned by a readiness 
to receive the word, and a careful examination of 
the prophetic Scripture, to ascertain if what the 
Apostles had preached was in accordance with its 
statements. — ^^ Therefore, many'' of the Bereans 
'' believed/' 

Of the Corinthians, it is said that Paul ^^ reasoned 
in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded 
the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and 
Timothy were come into Macedonia, Paul was 
pressed in spirit, and testified to the Jews that 
Jesus was the Christ; and whilst many of his 
hearers opposed themselves, and defamed, Cris- 
pus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on 
the Lord, with all his house; and many of the 
Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized/' 
Acts xviii. 5-8. 

Thus, Paul preached that Jesus was the Christ, 
and reasoned with the Jews and Greeks out of the 
Scriptures, and persuaded them to embrace the 
Gospel. He testified to them that Jesus was the 
Christ. And the result of this reasoning and per- 
suasion, and of this testimony was, that Crispus 
and his family believed, and so of many of the 
Corinthians. It is also added, ^^ And he publicly 
convinced the Jews, showing by the Scriptures 
that Jesus was the Christ.'' Acts xviii. 28. 

Of the Romans, it is said, that to those who 
came to his housC; Paul expounded and testified 



S 1 



132 WHAT IS FAITH, 

the kingdom of Grod^ persuading them concerning 
Jesus^ both out of the law, and out of the pro- 
phets, from morning till evening. And the result 
of this ^^ expounding and testifying'^ was that some 
belieyed the things which were spoken, viz., the 
Gospel, and some believed not. Acts xxviii. 23, 24. 

In Paul's letter to the saints at Rome, he thus 
writes : ''' How then shall they call on him in whom 
they have not believed ? and how shall they be- 
lieve in him of whom they have not heard ? and 
how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how 
shall they preach, except they be sent ? As it is 
written, How beautiful are the feet of them that 
j^reach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidiog-s 
of great things ! But they have not all obeyed the 
Gospel : for Isaiah saith. Lord, who hath believed 
our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, 
and hearing by the word of God.^^ Rom. x. 14-17. 

Thus, then, there must be a preacher — a 
preachei* sent of God, like the Apostles. He must 
have something to say, he must preach — preach 
the Gospel. The people must hear what he 
brings them, and thus hearing, they believe and 
call upon the name of the Lord. Faith then 
comes by hearing the word of the Lord. 

Thus, it is said that some who saw the Saviour 
believed ; others who did not see him, but heard 
of him, also believed. Of some it is said that 
they heard the Gospel, and searched the Scrip- 



AND HOW IS IT OBTAINED? 133 

tures to see if what was preached was so, and there- 
fore believed ; and of others, they simply heard 
the Gospel from the lips of the Apostles, and be- 
lieved it. 

We here would add, that there is no excuse for 
unbelief; inasmuch as the testimony is abundant 
to assure any reasonable mind of the truth of 
Christianitv. Unbelief is either the result of inat- 
tention to its claims and its testimonies, or comes 
fi'om a perverted and depraved will and conscience. 

The faith which the Gospel brings to the soul 
may be accompanied with doubt, and, like the 
'' rocking stone,'^ the mind may move to and fro, 
and vacillate to the right and left; but, under the 
influence of the truth, it will become steady, and 
nothing can move it from its firm foundation. 

Faith is the result of testimony received. It is 
a grand induction from the premises furnished in 
the Word of God; and, although these may not 
always be present to the mind, we should rest satis- 
fied with the conclusion to which we have arrived, 
and not be moved from the hope that is set before 
us in the Gospel : ^^ He that believes shall not be 
ashamed,'' or easily moved. 

Faith is the channel through which the love of 
God enters the soul of man, and the blood of Christ 
reaches the conscience of the sinner. All things, 
indeed, are promised to him who obediently believes. 
Our faith should incorporate itself with our feelings, 
12^ 



13-i WHAT IS FAITH, 

and quicken us to obedience, and keep the soul 
healthy in all its dispositions and hopes. 

We close with an extract from the ^^ Literary 
Remains" of Coleridge : " Sin is the disease. What 
is the remedy ? Charity ? Pshaw ! Charity, in 
the large apostolic sense of the term, is the health 
— the state to be obtained by the use of the remedy; 
not the sovereign balm itself — faith of grace — faith 
in the God-manhood — the cross — the mediation 
— the perfected righteousness of Jesus, to the utter 
rejection of all righteousness of our own ! Faith 
alone is the restorative. Faith is the source ; cha- 
rity, that ig the whole of the Christian life, is the 
stream from it. It is quite childish to talk of 
faith being imperfect without charity : as wisely 
might you say that a fire, however bright and strong, 
was imperfect without heat ; or that the sun, how- 
ever cloudless, is imperfect without beams. The 
true answer would be. It is not faith, but utter 
reprobate faithlessness. '^ 

" He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved. ^^ 

We would add that the faith of many is produced 
by an argument, rather than by a demonstration 3 
as in the case of Nathaniel, and in that of the 
Ethiopian officer of Egypt. And so is it true of 
those born of Christian parents, and who have never 
doubted concerning the truth of Christianity. 

A small anion at of testimony to a weak under- 



AND HOW IS IT OBTAINED? 135 

standing may produce tlie same conviction as a 
large amount to a strong and enlightened one ; and 
it will never be required of us how we entered the 
kingdom, provided faith in the Messiah is present 
to the mind, and an obedience based on his autho- 
rity be added to it. Faith in its beginning, in its 
increase, and in its perfection, is the same in na- 
ture; as it is the concurrence of the will and the 
understanding:, and rests on the Word of God. 

Faith is the first-born of the twins, but love issu- 
ing in obedience obtains the inheritance; and in 
this case also, the elder shall serve the younger. 
For only they who do the commandments have a 
right to the tree of life ; and therefore is it called 
the obedience of faith. 

The power of faith may be seen in the lives of 
the eminent men of the Scriptures. The faith of 
Abraham made him live a sojourner; the faith of 
Moses made him ^^ despise the treasures of Egypt ;'^ 
the faith of Joshua made him a '' valiant'^ man ; 
the faith of Joseph made him chaste ; the faith of 
Mary the Magdalen made her weep ; the faith of 
Paul made him suffer and labour in the cause of 
Christ ; the faith of all Christians '' overcomes the , 
world,'' ^^ works righteousness,'' and '' purifies the 
heart ;^' and thus all the actions of a good man are 
the fruits of faith. 



FAITH AND SIGHT. 

1 

Few and simple are the principles which, give 
origin to the almost infinite variety of phenomena 
that exist in the kingdoms of nature and of religion ; 
and were these reduced to their real value, they 
would be found to be still fewer than our philoso- 
phy has hitherto conceived. 

Amongst the many evidences given us of the di- 
vine origin of the Christian religion, not the least 
striking are the analogies existing between it and the 
system of nature. God is most wise and economical 
in all the arrangements of the empires of matter 
and of mind. He never employs more agencies to 
accomplish his objects and secure his ends, than 
are barely sufficient; and if by the operation of 
any one law he can accomplish his will, he uses no 
other. 

The phenomena which nature affords us, consti- 
tute the first principles of all our reasoning in her 
department. The student of nature never ventures 
beyond what is appreciable by his senses; facts 
and observations constitute the basis of all his 
knowledge in relation to the things '^ that are seen.'' 
All beyond these, to him is a land unknown. 



FAITH AND SIGHT. 137 

It is equally true in religion. Its facts are the 
substratum of all our spiritual knowledge — beyond 
them we dare not go. 

Witli what pleasure do we survey the wide-spread 
regions opened before us in the divine revelation. 
How greatly are we enriched in the possession of 
so great a treasure ! for where reason falters and 
sense is blind, faith, taking the lamp of life, boldly 
enters into the realms of the invisible and eternal, 
and feels as safe and as much at home, as in the 
domains of sense and of reason. 

To keep the mind steady in its gaze upon the 
revelations of God, and to appreciate their worth 
and beauty, is an important matter; how greatly 
do they enlarge the soul, enrich the understanding, 
and refine the taste ! What sublime thoughts do 
they awaken ; what feelings of awe and reverence 
do they not inspire ! 

If ever a man rises above his fellows in the sub- 
limity of his conceptions, the strength of his imagi- 
nation and the purity of his emotions ; it is when 
his eye, by faith, turns to the bright, the glowing 
scenes, which pass before him in this great pano- 
rama, — the Word of God. 

*' Of all that is most beauteous — imaged there 
In happier beauty : more pellucid streams, 
An ampler ether, a diviner air ; 
And fields invested with purpureal gleams ; 
Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day 
Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey." 



138 ' FAITH AND SIGHT. 

All that is beautiful in thought to awaken joy; 
all that is tender in love to awaken sympathy; all 
that is grand and magnificent to inspire with awe, 
lie before us in the revelations of God. In contem- 
plating the rich and varied scenery spreading be- 
fore us here, the soul reaches that elevation of 
which it is capable, and that moral grandeur for 
which it was destined. 

The sages of antiquity, the philosophers of 
Greece and of Rome, the statesmen, the jurists, the 
poets, the orators, the renowned captains of ancient 
and modern times, bear no comparison with the 
lofty spirits of either Testament, ^^who, through 
faith, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, 
obtained promises, — out of weakness were made 
strone, waxed valiant in fioht ; turned to fli«:ht the 
armies of the aliens.^' 

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, said the 
Royal Psalmist. Man is a complicated piece of 
workmanship, he is divided into the outer and the 
inner man ; by the one he is related to the visible, 
by the other to the invisible. The world of feeling 
is opened to him by the first, and the world of 
thought by the last. We feel before we think, 
sensation exists before reflection, and the natural 
man before the spiritual, appear to be the order of 
nature. 

If divested of any of our senses, or if they 
shall become diseased, we are deprived of all the 






FAITH AND SIGHT. 189 

enjoyments which that sense was designed to afford, 
and if deprived of each, we are cut off from all 
connexion with the natural system ; creation to us 
is a perfect blank, the universe of matter to us is 
at once annihilated. 

How invaluable is the sense of hearing in con- 
veying to the mind all that rich variety of sound 
heard from the ten thousand voices in nature ! 
How invaluable, as the medium through which 
thought by language is transmitted to us ! By it 
we are enabled, not only to commune with the pre- 
sent, but to chronicle the past, and by the aid of 
prophecy to anticipate the future ; and thus by 
language, to become ^^ the being of every country, 
the contemporary of every age.'' 

Thought expressed by language is a chain extend- 
ing from the birth of man to the present moment, 
one age and one nation, sending their rich con- 
tributions to all others — truth thereby dispelling 
error, and error for a moment dispelling truth. 
Throus:h the medium of lano-uaoje and the influence 
of faith, time in fact is annihilated ; the past and 
the future become present, and a thousand forms, 
beautiful or terrific, as spectres, start up before us. 
The mind is thus peopled with the multitudes which 
lived before the flood; the ancient kingdoms of 
Assyria and Persia, of Macedon and Greece, and 
of Imperial Rome stand before us, together with 
the arts and sciences, the literature and religion of 



140 FAITH AND SIGHT. 

these dead empires. Like the waud of the enchant- 
ress of Endor, it calls up. from Hades the spirits 
of the departed. The thoughts of poets and sages^ 
of prophets and apostles^ are transmitted to us; 
we hold converse with the dead^ not through spirits 
which '* mutter and peep/^ inhabiting the brains 
of enthusiasts, and electrifying the nerves of those 
who turn away from the truth to fables. Not 
through media far more fleshly than spiritual ; not 
by visions and spectres with 

*• Looks 

That threaten the profane. 

Ghostly shapes, 

Waiting at noontide — fear and trembling hope, 

Silence and forethought — death the skeleton, 

And time the shadow." 

But we hold converse with the dead through ih.^ 
medium of language transmitted to us from the 
past, and spoken by lips of flesh, or written by 
hands as full of muscles as our ovm. In the lan- 
guage of inspiration we hold fellowship with them 
in all that they saw and heard, and contemplated 
in the records they have left us. 

Deprived of this sense, we are cut off 

"From the sound of music, and of eloquence divine, 
Of mother's tender voice and father's tongue." 

And what an amplitude of space does the eye 
survey ! suns, moons, stars, systems, revolve upon 



FATTII AND SIGHT. 141 

its retina. By tlie aid of tlie telescope^ a thousand 
Worlds burst upon uS; and the light of the most 
distant orb in the milky way sheds its quick 
radiance upon this wonderful organ ! The student 
of nature^ when he casts his eye off from the 
diminutive objects that surround him, and pene- 
trates into those azure depths, cannot but feel 
inspired with conceptions too mighty for utterance. 
His imao'ination thousrh kindled with the fires of 
poetry, his intelligence though guided by the light 
of philosophy, falters ; and like David, his soul, in 
silent adoration, bows before the High and Holy 
One, who " tells the stars by number, and gives to 
them their names 3'^ who has spread out the 
heavens as a curtain^ and makes the blue vault his 
pavilion. 

*' What though in solemn silence all 
Move round this dark terrestial ball ? 
What though no real voice, nor sound, 
Amid their radiant orbs be found ; 
In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice ; 
For ever singing, as they shine, 
The Hand that made us is divine." 

^' Knowest thou the ordinances of Heaven ?'' 
said Job. " Canst thou set the dominion thereof 
in the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the 
clouds ? Canst thou send thy lightnings, that they 
may go, and say unto thee, Here we are ? Who 
lo 



142 FAITH AND SIGHT. 

hath put wisdom into the inward parts ? or who 
hath given understanding to the heart ? Who can 
number the clouds in wisdom ? or who can stay the 
bottles of Heaven ?'' 

The sun, moon, and stars, air, earth, fire, and 
water, are all ordinances of God, and are the 
appointed means of bestowing upon man the bless- 
ings of this our natural life. 

The sun gives us the light by day, the moon by 
night ; the stars shed upon us their mild radiance : 
thus we have solar, lunar, and sidereal light, each 
from their respective sources. No solar light but 
from the sun, no lunar light but from the moon, 
no stellar lis^ht but from the stars. Y/ithout the 
atmosphere we could have no clouds, without the 
clouds no rain, and without its pervading influence 
the earth would never be fanned with the soft 
breath of summer, nor purified by the rough winds 
of winter. Without the air no song of the minstrel, 
no human voice with eloquence divine, no sound 
would ever reach our ear. Silence eternal would 
reign upon the earth, and in all the habitations of 
men. 

Without the soil we should have no fruits or 
flowers ; spring and summer and autumn would 
leave no memorials behind them. The world we 
inhabit would be a dreary desert, without an oflbr- 
ing and without a blessing. With what a melan- 
choly sadness did the great English poet look 



FAITH AND SIGHT. 143 

back upon the day in whicli lie enjoyed tlie sense 
of vision ! Like a fugitive from home and country, 
he looked back to the days of other times, and 
sighed for the pleasures which then regaled his 
sense of vision. 

*' Thus -with the year 
Seasons return, but not to me returns 
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, 
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer rose, 
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine, 
But cloud instead and ever-during dark 
Surround me." 

But we must now call your attention once more 
to the subject of faith. The principle is so im- 
portant, and exercises such a pervading influence 
in spiritual things, that we cannot too frequently 
dwell upon it. There is no law of our nature 
better understood or more certain in its operation, 
than that of credit to testimony; not even sensa- 
tion or reflection, memory or consciousness. 

The mind from infancy is taught its exercise, 
and in all the afi'airs of life it is constantly put into 
requisition. 

Faith has often saved the child from the de- 
vouring fire, or the deep pit. The soldier, the 
statesman, the merchant, the peasant, and the 
prince, live and act constantly under its influence. 

The wife confides in her husband, the husband 
in his wife ; the child trusts the parent, and the 



144 FAITH AND SIGHT. 

parent confides in the cliild. In the charmed 
circle of home, each is bound to the other by this 
, reciprocated, undoubting confidence. Its abuse is 
the destruction of all peace and love, of all harmony 
and confidence. Take an illustration. 

We step into a railroad car a perfect stranger ; 
we venture life and limb upon the hazards of the 
journey. In a moment the whistle is heard, and 
we bound throu2:h the air with the swiftness of the 
bird. The night is dark, the track passes around 
mountains, dips into the valleys, sweeps over plains, 
leaps over gulfs, crosses over bridges, runs on the 
side of dizzy percipices ; rocks and rivers, houses 
and hamlets, seem to leap from their places as we 
move along. A switch out of place, a drawbridge 
unattended to, the least delay or increase in time, 
a moment^ s hesitation or neglect on the part of its 
officers, and ruin and disaster will ensue. And yet, 
for the most part, we ride secure. And why ? be- 
cause we confide in the skill, the prudence, the 
fidelity of those who have the arrangement of the 
road. Or rather we trust in the company, which 
has made all necessary arrangements for the safety 
and comfort of the passage. We give ourselves up 
to the guarantee they have afforded us, for the 
security of our persons and property in this rapid 
transit. And on what principle do we thus act ? 
On the faith we put in the general integrity and 
fidelity of our fellow-men. But it will be remem- 



FAITH AND SIGHT. 145 

bered that it is not by faith alone, that we reach 
the end of our journey. This only leads us to con- 
fide our person to the safe-keeping of the cars. 
Had we not entered and continued in them to the 
end, we would not have reached the point proposed. 
Faith alone in a railroad never took a passenger a 
single inch upon its track. 

This leads us to speak of that faith which James 
in his letter calls a " dead faith. '^ This was 
simply a belief in the speculative and abstract 
notion of the unity of God. It was the faith in a 
theological abstraction. It was the metaphysical 
creed of demons, a belief in unity. They believed 
that there was one God. They felt also the influ- 
ence of their faith, for they connected it with the 
attribute of justice, and it made them '^ tremble.'' 
Christians connect their belief with the mercy of 
God, and it inspires them with love and hope. 

If the Gospel addressed merely our sense of 
generosity, our love for virtue, our admiration for 
goodness, our taste for the beautiful and sublime, 
whilst it would be looked upon and regarded as a 
^^ thing of beauty and a joy for ever,'' it would not 
be adapted to the wants of the miserable and the 
lost. 

Its first and strongest appeals are made to our 
abhorrence of death^ and our instinctive love of 
life. 

Perishing with thirst, it says, ^^ Come unto me 
13* 



146 FAITH AND SIGHT. 

and drink.'' Weary and faint, it says, *• Come 
unto me, and you shall find rest.'' Captives and in 
prison, it says, " Let the prisoners go free." It 
heals the broken-hearted, comforts those who 
mourn, and gives the oil of joy for the spirit of 
heaviness. 

No one is commanded to believe out of compli- 
ment to Grod, or to show his acquiescence in the 
means of salvation ; nor yet because there is any 
virtue or merit in the mere assent of the under- 
standing to the testimony of Grod. 

It is not because duty prompts us to accredit, 
without reason and without conviction, the state- 
ments found in the Scriptures of Truth, or because 
they originate in an authority that is infinite and 
supreme. This would be to degrade the intellect 
and to debase the man in becoming the Christian. 

Still higher and more important objects are to be 
secured by our believing the Gospel than any or all 
of these. It is that the soul may fully be im- 
pressed with the moral meaning of the things be- 
lieved, and feel their influence upon the heart. 
For it is not our belief nor manner of believing, 
but the things believed, which renovate our whole 
moral nature, and make us new creatures in Christ 
Jesus. 

The soul of man has wandered from God ; the 
chain is broken that bound him to the throne of 
the universe ; and faith furnishes the invisible link 



FAITH AND SIGHT. 147 

that unites the Christian with the Infinite Father. 
That link broken or not yet formed, and the sinner 
falls back into the blackness of darkness for ever, 
from which no arm can redeem, no power can save 
him. 

Under the influence of this faith the soul lays 
hold of the arm of Omnipotence; the heart be- 
comes steady and firm. Along the mysterious 
links of this chain, the prayer of the believer 
reaches the throne ; and while it is yet ascending, 
answers of peace and mercy run to meet and to 
bless him. 

How pure the thoughts, how profound the emo- 
tions, how triumphant the hopes, which the faith 
of the Gospel inspires ! Under its influences what 
energy of purpose, what zeal and fervour, what 
patience and fortitude, does it bring to the soul ! 
How sublime the worship ! how tender the afi'ec- 
tions; how eternal the joys it awakens and reveals ! 
We look with chastened pleasure on an amiable 
countenance ; with admiration at the dia-nified sta- 
ture and the noble bearing of man ; with pride and 
exultation we gaze upon the wonderful productions 
of the pencil and the chisel; with gladness and 
reverence we contemplate the works of nature and 
of art; but when the eye of faith turns to the 
Saviour — the humble and the lowly, the gentle 
Teacher, the kind Shepherd, the able Advocate, the 
^^ first born among many brethren/^ the Brother- 



^* 



148 FAITH AND SIGHT. 

Man, tlie son of Mary and the Son of God : tlie 
Wonderful, tlie Counsellor, the mighty God, the 
founder of the Everlasting Age, and the Prince 
of Peace, the suffering, the sorrowing, the cruci- 
fied ! the risen ! the ascended ! the glorified ! — 
then it is that the soul wonders and adores, and in 
the exaltation of an intelligent faith exclaims, 
'' My Lord and my God !" And when we turn to 
the sacred pages, and pore over their hallowed 
themes, what variety and richness, what glory 
beams in every line ! The extent of their prophe- 
cies, commencing in the garden of Eden, extend- 
ino' throuo^h the Patriarchal and Jewish ag-es in one 
continuous and unbroken chain, closing with the 
Apostles ; the last link fastened to the Apocalypse 
in the island of Patmos, the testimony for Jesus, 
the spirit of each prophecy, and the burden of 
them all ; we feel overwhelmed with astonishment 
at the wisdom and foresight, the goodness and the 
grace which has furnished us such a rich and 
abundant repast for the growth and nourishment 
of our souls in all knowledge and true holiness. 

The pages glow with the dreadful threatenings 
of the flood; the call of Abraham; the shadowy 
eternity of Melchisedeck ; the fiery baptism of 
Sodom ; the deliverance of Lot, and the warning 
remembrances of '^ Lot's wife.^^ Jacob, the mighty 
wrestler, the prevailing Israel, on his dying couch 
catches the heaven-descending flame, and while 



FAITH AND SIGHT. 149 

the paleness of death is settling on his cheeks, he 
exclaims, ^' The sceptre shall not depart from 
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until 
Shiloh come !" 

Moses catches from the burdened cloud volumes 
of inspiration on the Holy Mount, and as he de- 
scends, with his face brightened with glory, ex- 
claims, -^ A prophet shall the Lord your God raise 
up from the midst of your brethren, like unto me. 
To him shall you hearken.^' 

Job, in the day of his extreme calamity, covered 
with dust and ashes, cries out, ^^ I know that my 
Redeemer liveth, and that in the latter day he ^ 

shall stand on the earth. ^^ And the blasted seer, 
the unwilling Balaam, on the top of Mount Peor, 
exclaims, '' I shall see him, but not now.^' He 
caught the first glimpse of the Star of Jacob, and 
said, ^^ Let me die the death of the riohteous, and 
let my last end be like his.^' David, wrapt in more 
heavenly visions, strikes his harp to the highest 
and sublimest notes in praise of his greater Son, 
the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King of the 
approaching reign of the Highest. 

Then Jonah, Hosea, Amos and Micah, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel seal up the testi- 
mony of the old prophets, and the Immerser opens, 
and the Apostles close the new; while the burden 
of all they utter, sing, and write, is the testimony 



/ 



150 FAITH AND SIGHT. 

in behalf of Jesus, as the true Messiah, the Son 
of the living &od. 

But in conclusion we would add, that faith, in 
order to the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings 
of the Gospel, must be embodied in an active and 
cheerful obedience to all the requirements of God. 

Christianity is a Divine system of ordinances 
which must be observed, to reap its full intent in 
saving and perfecting the soul. 

These ordinances are, the reading and hearing 
of the Word of God, repentance, confession and 
baptism, prayer, praise, the sacred observance of 
the Lord's day, the Supper, the contribution. And 
finally, to obtain eternal life, a patient continuance 
in well-doing; a life of piety, purity, and devo- 
tion; a consecration of self, talents, gifts, and 
means to the service of God and the good of men ; 
the cultivation of a meek and quiet spirit; the 
daily exercise of humanity and benevolence, of 
forgiveness and love. 

^^ Blessed are they that do his commandments, 
that they may have right to the tree of life, and 
may enter in through the gates into the city.'' 



THE PROVINCE OF REASON IN REGARD TO 
MATTERS OF FAITH. 

It is important to understand the boundaries 
and limits of human reason, in relation to all sub- 
jects claiming our religious belief. And we pro- 
pose calling your attention to this topic. 

God has endowed man with reason. It is his 
highest gift, his chief excellence. He owes all 
his superiority over the beasts that perish to this 
endowment, and by it he stands related to the first- 
born sons of light — the angels; and to the Su- 
preme Intelligence — God, who alone dwelleth in 
light. 

But, whilst we acknowledge man's superiority 
over all created beings of this world, in having 
reason for his guide, and not mere instinct, as the 
inferior creation, yet we must not attach too 
much importance to this faculty, or suppose that it 
can answer all the purposes of our moral being, 
independent of other aid. 

The history of the past, and the experience of 
the world, show that unassisted reason cannot at- 
tain to a certain knowledge of the existence of 



152 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

Grod; of his will, and the means of securing pre- 
sent and future happiness. 

The harmonies of creation, and the marks of de- 
sign everywhere seen, to the thoughtful mind, 
may suggest the idea of a first cause. But the 
mere light of nature never has revealed the will of 
God, or furnished man with an infallible rule in re- 
lation to his moral obli«^ations. 

Indeed, such a thing as the law of nature, in 
regard to religion, only exists in the imagination. 
The knowledge of God and his will, in all ages, 
have been derived from revelation, or tradition; 
to this it owes its origin, and not to nature, or the 
mere exercise of human reason. 

** The world by wisdom knows not God.'* 

Revelation and language came into existence at 
the same time. He who gave speech to man, gave 
him the knowledge of himself; and thus, whilst 
he made man a reasonable, he made him a reli- 
gious being; or, in other words, he made him a 
reasonable, by constituting him a religious being. 

Nothino' is more unreasonable than to divorce 
reason from revelation; inasmuch as they were 
co-existent, and had it not been for the one, we 
never should have had the other. The birds of the 
air and the beasts of the field have no religion, be- 
cause they have no reason. They have instinct, 
and some of the lower faculties which belong to 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. 153 

man ; but are not gifted with reason, and, there- 
fore, not reli2:ious. 

It is no province of reason to seek for a revela- 
tion on subjects which lie within the domain of 
the senses. Whatever, by the due exercise of rea- 
son and the senses of man, we can acquire, God 
has never condescended to reveal ; as this would 
be to give us faculties without requiring of us 
their use. 

Everything, therefore^ that comes under the 
dominion of the five senses, and all that belongs 
to nature and art, and the laws by which they are 
governed, and the uses to which they are appro- 
priated, are the proper subjects for human reason. 

The human mind has been left to its own re- 
sources in working out all the problems which may 
be started in reference to the sciences, some of 
which are so recondite and sublime, that they re- 
quire almost as much faith as reason to receive 
them as true, much less to comprehend them. 

Reason should not expect, in revelation, any 
dogmas or precepts on the subjects of natural his^ 
tory or astronomy. On these subjects, the inspired 
historians never speak, but in the language of the 
times in which they lived. They never anticipate 
their age, in any of those things which belong to 
the province of human reason or of human re- 
search. 

The prophets were not philosophers, astronomers, 
14 



fi! 



154 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

or chemists. They were not taught geology, or 
the exact sciences, by inspiration. They spoke on 
all subjects within the compass of human research, 
as other men of their own times. Had it been 
otherwise, had they anticipated their age on sub- 
jects belonging to the province of human reason 
and research, they would have involved themselves 
in endless disputes with their contemporaries on in- 
ferior subjects, to the neglect of the higher objects 
of their mission. 

Enlightened reason, or knowledge such as we 
enjoy now, on the subjects to which we refer, in 
the infancy of the world would have been mis- 
taken for stupidity and perverseness ; and would 
have prejudiced the minds of the ancients against 
the revelations with which the prophets were in- 
trusted, if made a part of divine revelation. 

The inspired writers have told us nothing about 
the mariner's compass, the art of printing, the ap- 
plication of steam, or the wonders of the telegraph ; 
and I rejoice that they did not. For, if these, 
and similar communications, had been made to 
man, independent of all mental exertion, he would 
have long since become a perfect driveller, a mere 
passive instrument in the hands of another. 
There would have been no development of reason, 
no robustness of intellect, no independence of 
thought, no progress or improvement. 

We should learn to separate what is in a book, 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. 155 

purporting to be a revelation, from the revelation 
itself. There is much to be found both in the Old 
and in the New Testaments which do not belong to 
the supernatural. Historic events, facts and inci- 
dents innumerable, are found in the Bible, inde- 
pendent of inspiration, and which form no part 
of it. 

It is not a supernatural event that Joseph went 
down into Egypt, or that Saul was the first king of 
Israel, or that Paul left his cloak at Troas. But 
the deliverance of Israel by the hand of Moses, in 
the smiting of the waters of the Bed Sea ; their 
being fed with manna in the wilderness for forty 
years, were supernatural events. The one class be- 
longs to the domain of Providence, the other to 
revelation. 

Many of the objections which infidelity arrays 
against the Bible, arise out of the want of this 
obvious distinction. 

As there are many things in this world which 
are not of it, so there are many things in the Divine 
Oracles not of them. 

God made the world good, and pronounced it so ; 
but man has sought out ^^many inventions.'^ We 
must not confound '' the inventions^' of man with 
the works of God, or make him responsible for the 
sins and follies of his creatures. 

Whatever irregularities there may have been in 
the lives of Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Judah, 



156 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

MoseSj and Aaron^ David^ Solomon, and others, are 
chargeable to human, not to divine, influences ^ 
these show that thej were men of like dispositions 
with ourselves, and that piety and purity struggled 
with weakness and corruption, even among the best 
of men, then as now; that the flesh lusted against 
the spirit, in their case as in ours, and that when- 
ever they reached any superior eminence or excel- 
lence, it was owing, not to a finer organization, or 
because they belonged to a privileged class, un- 
afi'ected by the virus of a sinful nature, but simply 
to the influence of a higher element than that of 
flesh or of reason — the influence of faith. Let then 
infidelity gloat over the frailties of the men of the 
Bible, and denounce in unmeasured terms whatever 
ll of wickedness may be found in their lives. To all 

i! such we reply, in the language of the Bible^ 

liii ^^ Yv^herefore you are inexcusable, man, whosoever 

you are who condemn ; for in condemning another 
you pass sentence upon yourself, because you, who 
h condemn, practise the same things.'' 

The sins these men practised, are the sins justly 
chargeable to unbelief, or infidelity — they proceed 
from flesh, not faith; they are the legitimate 
fruits of reason unsanctified by the element of reli- 
gion. They are the bitter and poisonous fruits of 
the animal man, and serve as a foil to set forth in 
clearer light the beauty and grandeur of a life 
under the dominion of faith. In the absence of 



I 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. 157 

this principle, the lives of these roen would be com- 
parable only to the lives of unbelievers at large, 
and would never rise above them. But whatever 
gave them superiority to others, was owing to the 
pervading influence of a piety and a morality, due 
alone to the influence of that revelation which in- 
spired them with faith — the confidence of things 
hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. 

To set this matter in a still more forcible light, 
we would observe that the very sins charged to 
these men, were sins in direct violation of the will 
of God, and subjected them to his displeasure; and 
the very revelation which their actions are sup- 
posed to impugn, receives a higher sanction of 
Divine authority from the fact that the '' Wrath 
of God is revealed from heaven asrainst all unocod- 
liness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress 
the truth by unrighteousness.^' 

It would be strange indeed if the law forbidding 
murder, theft, adultery, profanity, drunkenness, 
and all wickedness, and which denounces the 
heaviest judgments of God and man upon those 
who are guilty of them, should be held responsible 
for their commission ; and that a Book which incul- 
cates and approves every virtue which adorns our 
nature, should be justly condemned for the vices 
which it abhors. 

Certainly it is not the province of human reason 
thus to act in relation to the great purposes of a 



158 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

Divine revelation. If tliis is reason, it is perverted 
reason. It is reason blinded by prejudice, and sur- 
rounded by the foggy atmosphere arising from the 
Stygian pools of passion and corruption. 

If you wish to see the contrast between these 
two principles — flesh and faith, or reason and reve- 
lation — a few examples will suffice. 

Flesh and unassisted reason had their type in 
Cain, who brought his thank-offering to the altar, 
and, under the influence of envy and resentment, 
slew his brother. The first blood ever shed on 
earth was the blood of a rig:hteous man, from the 
hand of a brother under the dominion of the flesh. 
It was the bloody offering of infidelity at the shrine 
of unassisted reason. 

If you would have one drawn from the New 
Testament, look at the Jews who gnashed upon 
Stephen with their teeth, and took up huge stones 
and hurled them at him, until he falls to the earth 
covered with blood. This was the fruit of human 
reason under the influence of the flesh. But faith 
led the dying saint to cast up his eyes to the hea- 
vens, saying, '' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit — lay 
not this sin to their account !'' 

It is perfectly within the province of human rea- 
son to distinguish between truth and error, dark- 
ness and li«:ht, between thino:s that differ ; but in 
so doinof she should avail herself of all the lisrht 
which nature and religion have afforded her, and 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. 159 

not to pronounce judgment until the facts and the 
testimonies shall be fully presented. 

It is the province of human reason to distin- 
guish between a false and a true revelation^ but 
not to sit in judgment upon the impossibility of a 
divine revelation, inasmuch as it is not permitted 
us to know how great may be the resources of infi- 
nite wisdom. Besides, until the powers of the 
human mind have been fully taxed, and its re- 
sources developed, we shall not be able to know 
with absolute certainty what it is capable of 
accomplishing; but from the history of the past 
we draw the conclusion that the regions of faith 
hitherto have been a ten^a incognita j a land 
unknown and untrodden by the foot of unassisted 
reason. And if we shall ever receive any light 
from the world to us invisible, it must come from 
beyond us. ^^ Faith, ^^ says an Apostle, ^^is the 
evidence of things not seen.^^ The Christian 
endures as " seeing Him who is invisible.^' 

Faith consists in such a firm persuasion of the 
things which God has declared and promised, as 
clothes them with an evidence equal to that of 
sense. The examples given us in the Scriptures — 
of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, prove this; as 
by the principle of faith the whole tenor of their 
lives was regulated. 

Faith g;ives to the invisible and the distant a 
power equal to the visible and the present. It 



160 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

realizes to us tlie existence of a world not seen, 
which eclipses by its glory the world that sur- 
rounds us. 

It brings the new heavens and earth in full view, 
and the jasper walls^ the pearly gates, and the 
golden streets, and the thronged worshippers of the 
City of God within the field of our vision, as by a 
telescope. Faith answers all the purposes of a 
demonstration, because founded upon the veracity 
of God. 

Of Johnson it is said, that a man who told him 
of a waterspout or a meteoric stone, he would give 
the lie direct to — when told of a hurricane in the 
West Indies, and, a poor quaker, who told him of 
red hot balls fired at the siege of Gibraltar — ^^ It 
is not so, it cannot be — don't tell that story again; 
it makes you look so ridiculous. '^ 

Scepticism with some men is a disease. They 
say, as David, " in his haste — All men are liars.'' 
This class of men will believe in second sight, in 
ghost stories, in dreams, in spiritual knockings ; but 
on the best of evidence they refuse to believe in 
the truth of a divine revelation. Thus scepticism 
commences where reason ends ] and their faith is 
strong in the direct ratio of the want of evidence. 

It is the province of human reason to distinguish 
between a true and a false miracle ; not its province 
to pass judgment, a priori, on the impossibility of 
a miracle. 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. IGl 

The usual objection, first started by Hume 
against a miracle — that it would be contrary to our 
experience, has been proved to be sophistical, a 
mere begging the question — for whilst a miracle 
may be contrary jto your experience or to mine, or 
to those living in this generation, it may not ha.ve 
been contrary to the experience of others. The 
objection proceeds upon the basis that each indi- 
vidual mind is competent to sit in judgment upon 
all the events which have occurred, and to decide 
upon them, independent of the experience and tes- 
timony of others. 

It accords not with my experience that the world 
was once destroyed with a flood, or that it was created 
by the word of God. 

It accords not with my experience that Lisbon 
was once destroyed by an earthquake, or that the 
cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed 
by the eniption of a volcano, or that many years 
since, there was a shower of meteors which extended 
over half the globe ; but nevertheless these events 
corresponded with the experience of others. And 
it is no part of the province of human reason to 
ignore the testimony of others, whose reason for 
their knowledge was equal to our reason for our 
belief. 

Besides, who shall limit the Holy One of Israel ? 
Who shall say what boundaries are to circumscribe 
the wonders of Omnipotence ? 



162 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

He wlio creates a myriad of perfect animals and 
places them in a drop of water ; wlio has given to 
certain insect tribes eyes with innumerable lenses ; 
who created the sun and placed it ninety-five 
millions of miles from the earth,, to give us light 
and heat, to serve both as the foundation and head 
of the solar system; He who existed before all 
things, and gave existence to all things; — who 
will have the temerity to say of him that he cannot 
heal the sick, cleanse the leper, and raise the dead ? 

It was enli«:htened reason that addressed the 
question to King Agrippa : ^^ Why should it be 
judged an incredible thing by you, that God 
should raise the dead ?" Creation, throughout it3 
whole extent, speaks of innumerable acts of 
Omnipotence, equally incredible; or we might 
add rather, as wonderful as this. 

It is not the province of human reason to say that 
it is either improbable or impossible that God 
should speak to man. 

It is more in accordance with reason that if 
our necessities shall require it, he will speak to 
us. If God is our Creator, and he has endowed us 
with intelligence, we ought to become acquainted 
with him. If he is our Father, we ought not to be 
Ignorant of him ; and if our happiness and obedience 
are objects worthy of his regard, we think that it is 
highly probable that both his wisdom and benevo- 
lence would prompt him to reveal himself to man. 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. 163 

He wlio gave instinct to the animal, would not 
withhold revelation to his accountable^ because we 
are his rational, creatures. 

As to the impossibility of such a revelation — he 
who gave eyes to man, can he not see ? ears to 
man, cannot he hear ? language to man, cannot he 
speak ? The eye is greater than light ; the ear 
more mysterious than sound ; the reason more 
sublime than speech : man is more marvellous than 
the revelation made him. It was our Saviour 
who said, '' Is not life a greater gift than food, and 
the body than raiment? Consider the fowls of 
heaven. They neither sow nor reap. They have 
no storehouse; but your heavenly Father feeds 
them. Are not you much more valuable than 
they ?'' 

It is perfectly within the province of human 
reason to examine the evidences for the truth of a 
revelation purporting to be divine, and to subject 
it to all the criteria of investigation which a sub- 
ject of this nature admits. And never does a man 
show greater homage to his reason than when 
engaged in a work of this nature. Only let him 
bring to the examination all the candour, simplicity, 
teachableness, and humility which he can summon. 

We ask him to do for revelation what he would 
do for chemistry, astronomy, and the exact sciences 
— to examine first, and then decide, patiently in- 
vestigate the whole ground before him, as he would 



164 THE PROVINCE OF REASON 

in any great induction ; to be careful to have before 
him all the premises^ before he draws the conclu- 
sion ; and if in so doing he fails to become a be- 
liever, we do not think that God will hold him 
responsible for his unbelief. He will treat him as 
a creature by the act of God free from all moral 
obligation, as an infant or an idiot, as one suffering 
under some natural obliquity of disposition, some 
paralysis of intellect, which renders him incapable 
of appreciating truth or the demands of duty. 
His faith under these circumstances would not be a 
reasonable faith, nor his unbelief a sinful one. 

If, therefore, any human being shall make use 
of all the faculties with which God has endowed 
him, and appropriate all the means within his 
reach of acquiring a knowledge of his will, and 
fails in the attempt, he will not go to the judgment- 
seat of Christ to be condemned. We believe that 
he will be treated with all the lenity due to a sin- 
cere and honest heart in the search of truth, which 
by a stern necessity for ever eluded his grasp. 

But let no one take encouragement from this 
concession to neglect his duty in the premises, or 
wantonly refuse to open his eyes, because he loves 
the darkness better than the light, as this will only 
subject him to a heavier doom, and a more certain 
condemnation. 

^^If I had not come among you,'' said Jesus, 
^' and performed the works no other man could do, 



IN REGARD TO MATTERS OF FAITH. 165 

you had not sinned; but now there remains no 
excuse for you.'' 

It was this that made him utter the woes upon 
Choraziin and Bethsaida, and Capernaum. It was 
this that occasioned that wail of sorrow over Jerusa- 
lem — " 0, Jerusalem, Jerusalem/' &c. If any one 
is incapable of forming a correct judgment on such 
questions, he will be classed among idiots and child- 
ren, without law and without responsibility. Surely 
infidelity needs to be humble, when its pretensions 
subject them to such a judgment. In the pride of 
its heart it rejects that which dooms the unhappy 
subject to a level with the most unfortunate of our 
race, or to the condition of imbecility and childish 
weakness which belong to infancy. Happy would 
it be if this indeed were the case. But far other- 
wise will it be for those who, in the exercise of 
reason on the visible and the sensible, have devel- 
oped such intelligence and displayed such skill. 
A tithe part of the same research and earnestness 
of purpose would have led them to receive the 
Gospel as true, and would have brought them to 
bow in submission to the claims of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, the Son of the Highest. 

The service of Christianity is a reasonable ser- 
vice, and all the disciples of Christ are required to 
give a reason to every one who shall ask them for 
the hope of immortality that is in them. 

It is reason maddened by passion, bewildered by 
15 



166 THE PROVIxVCE OF REASON. 

prejudice, besotted by sensuality, blinded by lust, 
detlironed by rebellion, — man-disbonoured, God- 
dishonoured reason, — tbat rejects the Gospel wliich 
was preached b}^ the Holy Spirit sent down from 
heaven, and confirmed by signs and wonders and 
powers from on high. It is not for the want of 
light, but because men prefer the darkness to it, 
that they reject the Gospel of the grace of God. 
It is not because revelation is impossible or im- 

1^ probable, or not needed — much less unreasonable 

— that infidelity rejects it, but because man, in the 
pride of his intellect, and the corruption of his 
heart, refuses to surrender himself to its divine 
t-eachings. 

'' If I had not come among you, and had done 
the work which no other could have done, you had 

II not sinned; but now there remains no cloak for 

1 1 you. 



THE DOCTRINE AND DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 

Repentance is the burden both of the Old Tes- 
tament and of the New. Its demand grows out of 
the alienated state into which we have entered in 
consequence of sin and transgression. 

The command to repent is not only a reasonable 
and necessary one^ but is enforced by the highest 
authority in the universe. 

The righteous are not summoned to repentance, 
they are not the proper subjects of it. Jesus came 
to call sinners to repentance. 

The ninety-and-nine which need no repentance, 
so far as this demand is to be taken into the account, 
are uncared for. The Good Shepherd leaves them 
in safety, to search for the one who has gone astray, 
and having found it, rejoices over it, and brings it 
home. 

It is a doctrine full of encouragement to the sin- 
ner, as it is his only hope of return from his wan« 
derings ; without it he would proceed from bad to 
worse. He would either give himself up to despair 
or to the doing of all unrighteousness. 

The sinner whose conscience is seared, and is 
past feeling, commits sin with greediness; he glo- 



168 THE DOCTRINE AND 

ries in his shame. He allies himself to the demons 
of the pit, for whom is reserved the blackness of 
darkness for ever, and for whom there is no repent- 
ance and no pardon. 

The only encouragement sinners have to cast 
themselves on the mercy of God, is found in the 
doctrine and the duty of repentance. 

The apostacy of man from his Maker is a fearful 
one, and but for the '^repentance unto life,^' pro- 
claimed in the Gospel of Christ, it would render 
our condition utterly hopeless, and without remedy. 

The language of Paul in the first chapter to the 
Romans, describing the wickedness of the world, is 
most fearfully true, and time and experience 
proves it to be so. And to this agree the state- 
ments found in the writings of the poets of Greece 
and of Rome, and their most profound and obser- 
vant philosophers, about the period of the advent of 
the Messiah ; they speak the language of despair, 
in regard to any hope of a better day, from any 
means or appliances hitherto known. One of them 
thus expresses himself: — 

"Alas! the tender herbs, and flowery tribes, 
Though crushed by winter's unrelenting hand 
Revive, and rise when vernal zephyrs call. 
But we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, 
Bloom, flourish, fade, and fall — and then succeeds 
A long, long, silent, dark, oblivious sleep ; — 
A sleep which no propitious power dispels, 
Nor changing seasons, nor revolving years." 



DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 169 

The intimate connexion between sin and suffer- 
ing has been universally admitted ; and therefore 
the expedients used to remove the cause, by sacri- 
fices and altars smeared with blood in the Pagan 
world. And in seasons of calamity, how solemn 
their processions ! Their temples were crowded 
with blind and infatuated worshippers ; and even 
the choicest of the race were sacrificed to appease 
their malicious deities. 

In all these false and corrupt forms of worship, 
there are underlying some deep and significant 
truths, dimly seen or known, but which find their 
full expression in the heart of man and in the elder 
revelations of God. 

It was a dictate, no less of reason than of reli- 
gion, which prompted the appeal of the Saviour to 
his countrymen : " Suppose ye that these Galileans 
were sinners above all the Galileans, because they 
suffered such things T^ '' Except ye repent, ye 
shall all in like manner perish V^ How strikingly 
just and pungent the personal appeal to his hearers ; 
like others, ever ready to pass judgment upon their 
fellows, and blind to their own true state. They 
thought that the dreadful calamity which brought 
ruin upon eighteen men, by the sudden falling of a 
tower, was owing to some heinous offence of which 
they had been guilty ; not knowing that they them- 
selves were exposed alike, not only to similar judg- 
ments, but to perish eternally, unless they reformed, 
15* 



170 THE DOCTRINE AND 

Men have always been inclined to look at tlie 
failings of others, and to pass a liarsh judgment 
upon them, and to be forgetful of tlie fact that they 
too are sinners. They see the mote in their brother^s 
eye, but know not the beam in their own. Out 
Saviour corrected on all occasions this evil and per- 
nicious habit — one, alas, too common everywhere ! 

^^ Are there few who shall be saved ?^' is the lan- 
guage of curiosity : '^ Strive to enter into the strait 
gate, for many shall seek to enter, but shall not be 
able,^' is the language of earnestness. ^^ What shall 
I do to be saved ?'^ is the appropriate language of 
the sinner; and it always finds a ready answer in 
the Scriptures of truth. 

The sin of the race is linked with the sufferings 
of the race ; and, therefore, the innocent and the 
guilty, the good and the bad, alike suffer in the 
present life. The sin of the individual, though 
sometimes, is not always, in this life, connected with 
the particular sufferings of the individual ; for this 
world is not the scene of the judgment. The retri- 
butions of justice are reserved for another state; 
and therefore the guilty in this life often escape. 

It is appalling to think what an amount of suffer- 
ing is transmitted from one age to another, and what 
an amount the present generation will transmit to 
the future : ^' treasuring up wrath against the day 
of wrath /^ The sin of Jeroboam ran through 
many generations, until it reached a fearful crisis 



DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 171 

of guilt and suffering in the apostate race which 
followed. Who can tell the amount of evil which 
the life and writings of Paine, Voltaire, Hume, and 
other infidels have brought upon our race ? The 
bitter waters issuing from these sources will run to 
the judgment. Their influence is cumulative, 
through successive ages and generations; and there- 
fore the fearful responsibility which rests upon the 
men who profane their genius, and pervert it to 
minister to the guilt and sufferings of our race. 

The judgments which now come upon us are the 
couriers in advance, warning us of the danger 
which awaits us if we delay repentaace, or neglect 
it. They are the sad and solemn premonitions of 
the day of wrath that is coming upon the world 
of the ungodly; the heavy clouds and portentous 
meteors which precede the terrible eruptions of a 
volcano. Like the wars and rumours of wars, the 
famine and pestilences, the earthquakes and the 
anguish of desponding nations, spoken of by the 
Saviour in his memorable predictions, which are 
^^but the beginning of sorrows. ^^ 

God's plan has always been to give warning be- 
forehand; judgment is delayed, to give opportunity 
to reform. A period of one hundred and twenty 
years respite was given before the flood. Abraham 
gave warning, and so did the angels of God, to 
Sodom, before the sheeted flames fell upon the 
cities of the plain. Forty years followed the warn- 



172 THE DOCTRINE AND 

ing, before Jerusalem was trodden down by the 
Gentiles. And the coming of the Son of Man to 
the judgment is preceded by the day of grace and 
of salvation, through the patience and forbearance 
of God. 

The doctrine of repentance is clearly revealed in 
the oracles of God. In the Old Testament all the 
warnings and appeals made by the Prophets were 
designed to show its necessity and urge an imme- 
diate attention to it. They rose up early and went 
to the nations with the command to reform. ^^Eend 
your hearts, and not your garments. ^^ ^^Turn, 
turn, for why will you die ?^' '^ Let the wicked 
forsake his way and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts, and let him turn to the Lord, and he will 
have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will 
abundantly pardon. ^^ ^' Therefore, say unto the 
house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Repent, and 
turn away your faces from all your abominations. '' 

We have many cases of personal and national 
reform given us in the Old Scriptures. Job said, 
^^ I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; 
but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor 
myself, and I repent me in dust and ashes. '^ Of 
Manasseh it is said, who made Israel to err and to 
do worse than the heathen, ^^That when he was in 
affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and hum- 
bled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 
and prayed unto him ; then Manasseh knew that 



DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 173 

the Lord was God/' Nineveh, the ruins of whicli 
now, in anticipation of its inhabitants, are rising up 
in the judgment to condemn the impenitent and 
the unbelieving — of Nineveh it was said by Jonah, 
'^ Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed/^ 
How short, how solemn the warning ! from street 
to street, in the cross-roads and public places of 
resort, the warning is heard, ^^ Yet forty days, and 
Nineveh shall be destroyed/' And the warning 
was not in vain ! No mercy was promised, no re- 
pentance was proclaimed ! But mark the results : 
^^ The people believed God, and proclaimed a fast, 
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest even to the 
least, and God saw their works, that they turned 
from their evil way," and he did not execute his 
threatened judgments ; his hand was stayed by 
their repentance. 

All the t]ireatenings and promises of God are 
conditional, whether expressed or not. This is the 
settled law of his kingdom. '^ The soul that sin- 
neth it shall die, but if he turn from his iniquities 
he shall live.'' These are the unchangeable pur- 
poses of the unchangeable God ! 

Infidels have made use of this passage, in the 
shallowness of their reasonings, to show that there 
is fickleness in the God of the JBible, and contra- 
dictions in the Scriptures. They had better take 
warning from the case than find fault with the pro- 
ceedings found therein. '' For the men of Nine- 



174 THE DOCTRINE AND 

veh shall rise up in the judgment/' said Jesus, 
^^ against the men of this generation, for they re- 
pented at the preaching of Jonah, and lo ! a greater 
than Jonah is here/' 

In the New Testament John the Baptist opens 
his mission with these words : " Repent, for the 
Kini>;dom of Heaven is at hand.'' He was sent to 
turn the hearts of the fathers to2:ether with their 
children, and the hearts of the children together 
with the fathers, lest God should come and smite 
the land with utter destruction. 

The Messiah also commences his work with the 
same message. Every word of warning from his 
lips, and all the splendid array of miracles to en- 
force them, were designed to bring the nation to 
repentance, — and when he failed in his solemn pur- 
pose, '^ Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! thou that killest 
the prophets, how often would I have gathered 
you 1" came from his crushed heart like the wail of 
pity, mingled with despair. 

. The Apostles, in the last commission they 
received from the Saviour, were especially com- 
manded to preach '^ Repentance and the remission 
of sins in his name, among all the nations, begin- 
ning at Jerusalem." 

This was the burden of every sermon, the end 
and object of every exhortation; and thousands 
were cut to the heart, multitudes turned to the 
Lord, the tear of penitence fell upon many a cheek, 



DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 175 

and the wail of anguish fell from many a lip. 
*^What shall we do?'' was the language which 
saluted their ears wherever the Apostles proclaimed 
the Gospel of the grace of God. 

They announce the fact^ that God commands all 
men everywhere to repent, and that Christ is 
exalted to gnint the privilege of repentance and 
the offer of pardon to Israel, and that he has given 
^^ repentance unto life/' to the Gentile world by 
the offer of salvation in the Gospel. 

Repentance might have been required without 
the offer of life. The past might have been re- 
deemed to men without any promise of the future. 
The old debts might have been cancelled only to 
subject the sinner to a future bankruptcy and a 
sterner requital. But God in the riches of his 
mercy has not only granted indemnity for the past^ 
but he has made ample provision for the future. 
He calls the Christian to glory and to courage. He 
grants " repentance unto salvation.'^ 

The duty of repentance is everywhere and at 
all times enjoined upon all men. God com- 
mands it — and it should be heeded on this account, 
if on no other. Our necessities demand it. We 
are exposed to death, lying under condemnation, 
and unless we repent we must perish. The sinner 
is lost ; repentance brings him out of his bewildered 
state, and shows him the way of safety and deliver- 
ance. It leads him to the straight and narrow path 



176 THE DOCTRINE AND 

that ends in everlasting life. The sinner is dead — 
dead in trespasses and in sins ; repentance is one 
of the conditions of life, and is called therefore 
^^ repentance unto life/' The sinner is defiled and 
fatally diseased ; repentance is the appointed means 
of his cure, the process by which he maybe restored 
to the enjoyment of health. The sinner is poor 
and blind, and wretched and miserable; repent- 
ance gives him riches, anoints his eyes that he 
may see, and pours into his heart all heavenly con- 
solation and peace. The sinner is exposed to de- 
struction, the wrath of God abides upon him ; re- 
pentance points out +0 him the city of refuge, to 
which he may fly and find security from the hands 

« 

of the destroyer. 

To delay, then, our repentance is an act of 
suicide; it is to become our own destroyer; it is to 
choose death rather than life, sickness rather than 
health, guilt rather than pardon, wretchedness 
rather than peace. To presume on the mercy of 
God in deferring our repentance, is to tempt God 
to visit us by the sword of his justice; and if once 
he rises to the judgment, who shall stand before 
him ? 

To put off the duty of repentance until to- 
morrow, when God calls us to-day, is to harden our 
hearts, and to adopt repentance as a convenient 
method of avoiding punishment; as a compound- 
ing with God between his mercy and our lusts^ and 



DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 177 

to use as an expedient, what God urges as a com- 
mand. 

Love is ever quick and prompt in the discharge 
of its duties. Hate is slow and reluctant. Sinners 
hate the light lest their deeds should be reproved. 
They love the darkness in preference to the light. 
Whatever then is done as a religious duty in the 
absence of love, is wanting in the very element 
which gives to it all its value. To delay repentance 
is a deception we practise on ourselves, which 
blinds us to our certain ruin. Who ever found 
that the easiest way to break off from any evil 
habit was to indulge in it to the last ? If the duty 
of repentance is difficult now, will it not be more 
difficult to-morrow ? Besides, what reason has the 
sinner to believe that he will be better disposed to 
repent in a future day than at the present ? Did he 
not think so in days gone by ? Has he not passed 
already beyond the hour in which he promised 
himself a reformation from the errors of his life ? 
And why may it not be so to the end ? 

Does not God command now, and has he not a 
right to command ? Does he not know our danger, 
and kindly point out to us the way of escape ? 
^^When I called,^' says Wisdom, ^^ye refused.^' 

No liberty of choice is granted to the sinner in 

relation to the time of his repentance. To-morrow 

is not in the calendar of repentance. It has no 

existence. He who defers it until to-morrow has 

16 



178 THE DOCTRINE AND 

not lived long enougli by a day ; and even should 
to-morrow come, it will bring along with it no new 
motives to reform tbat have not already been 
neglected and despised. 

To bear God's Word in the Gospel, and to obey 
our own will, is the height of folly and of wicked- 
ness. It is to set up our own wishes as the 
standard of duty, and to depose the King, and 
erect a government of our own. 

But, let us look at some of the reasons urged 
for our repentance in the Scriptures. 

The goodness of God is designed to lead to re- 
pentance ; and is this not a powerful motive ? In 
creation, providence, and redemption, his goodness 
everywhere is seen. Life, health, friends, home, 
country, all the gifts of his hands, are so many 
reasons why we should reform. To refuse is in- 
gratitude, to delay is rebellion, to despise is the 
seal of perdition. 

The long-suffering of God affords another mo- 
tive to repentance. How long has God borne with 
us ! How slow to ano;er ! What innumerable 
provocations have we given him ! From what 
dangers has he not preserved us I Through what 
trials has he not brought us I How many friends 
has he not called away from us ! What repeated 
warnings has he not sent us ! 

The chastisements of his hands are sent for the 
express purpose of calling us to repentance. Sick- 



DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 179 

ness, loss of health and fortune, disappointment 
and crosses, bereavements, all have visited us to 
awaken us to this imperative duty. It was in this 
way he stopped the prodigal's career, and caused 
him to repent. 

Ye orphans ! cast upon the cold charities of the 
world^ why has God taken from you the prop and 
the staff of your life ? Was it not to teach you to 
look to, and lean upon him ? — the Father of the 
fatherless ! 

And ye, from whose arms death has stricken 
down the best beloved of your hearts, and left you 
like the section of an arch, with nothing to lean 
your head upon, why has God so dealt with 
you ? Was it not that you might find in him one 
who never would leave — never would forsake you? 
Is not God the husband of the widow in all gene- 
rations ? 

And ye mothers ! why have your children been 
taken from your embrace ? Why does Hachel 
mourn them, because they are not ? The early dew 
has been exhaled to heaven, to form the rainbow 
of hope, to allure you thither. The rosebud, oh 
how fragrant I has been plucked from the stem, to 
be placed in the coronal of the Saviour. The olive 
plants have been taken from around your board to 
flourish in fairer climes, and to break the spell 
which binds you to the earthy and to lead you to 
where there is fulness of joy. 



180 DOCTRINE AND DUTY OF REPENTANCE. 

Oh I you remember that look of love — of un- 
utterable love which lingered upon the face of that 
dying friend. Her last words breathed into your 
ear ! The attenuated hand, how cold ! which you 
pressed to your heart. The prayer which she sent 
up to heaven in your behalf, and the promise of re- 
pentance, by the side of the dying, you made. Is 
it not all recorded in heaven ? 

But, in conclusion, the judgment is the last ap- 
peal Grod makes to the sinner. Solemn thought ! 
day of decisions, of unalterable doom ! It is 
the last judgment ! The great assize ! From the 
verdict of that court there is no appeal. 

Would you not make all necessary arrangements 
for a trial in an earthly court, when fortune or life 
was at stake ? And will you rush to the judg- 
ment without a thought, a friend — -an advocate ? 

Remember, this day may come to you at any 
hour. For^ ^^ after death; the judgment.^^ 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

There are no merely outward ordinances in the 
Christian religion, if the terms of the proposition 
shall be strictly considered ; and therefore we shall 
be at some pains to examine the subject with both 
the light of reason and of Scripture for our guides. 

And first we shall inquire into the nature and 
meaning of the terms employed, as this is certainly 
the true method of procedure in all questions of 
this character. A proper definition will often 
enable us to settle questions, which otherwise would 
be both obscure and difficult of meaning, as all the 
controversies in regard to the proper action of 
baptism fully prove, — the word itself is a word of 
form, and its true definition or translation is its 
only meaning. Words are often used by both 
speakers and writers with great latitude of mean- 
ing, and without any special reference to their 
strict philological import; and this is particularly 
the case in theological discussions ; and therefore 
the first thing to settle is, the meaning of the 
terms to be considered. This will often adjust 
difficulties, without the time too often wasted in 
empty words. 
16* 



182 EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

What tten is an ordinance ? It is a rule es- 
tablished bj antlioritj — a permanent rule of action 
— an established rite or ceremony. In no instance, 
either in society or religion, is it ever strictly con- 
sidered as a useless or unmeaning thing ; but as a 
matter originating in the state, or established by 
authority or custom, and to be observed out of 
respect for the authority that ordained it. Thus 
all laws in relation to the mode of selecting officers 
of the state, their induction into office, their pay, 
and the obedience due to them, are made matters 
of special ordinance. All laws regulating the 
rights and privileges of citizenship, marriage, 
divorce, and property are guarantied by law, and 
must be obeyed to the letter ; not one of them is 
to be neglected or disobeyed, without incurring the 
displeasure of the state, and subjecting the offender 
to certain disabilities and punishment. 

It is equally so in regard to all ordinances pro- 
ceeding from divine authority ; only with this dif- 
ference in their favour, that they demand and are 
deserving a larger amount of respect, and a stricter 
obedience, as they are the dictates of infinite wis- 
dom, and originate in the highest possible autho- 
rity. The offender cannot by any means escape 
the consequences of his acts of disobedience. We 
have only to refer you to the statutes and ordi- 
nances of the Law on Mount Sinai, to show the 
nature of the obedience required, and the punish- 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 183 

ment threatened against all the violators of its 
divine appointments. 

'^ Every transgression and disobedience will meet 
with a just retribution. '' 

But what is meant by the word ^' External V^ — 
an ^^ external ordinance V^ External signifies out- 
ward; exterior ] as the external surface of a body, 
opposed to the internal. 

In ecclesiastical matters, it refers to '' rites and 
ceremonies/^ — '' visible forms/' as established, not 
by Christ and his Apostles, but by councils and 
conventions, which take to themselves the authority 
of altering the divine ordinances '^somewhat!'' 

Now it is certain that, neither under the Law nor 
under the Gospel, did God ever ordain any outward 
institutions, as opposed to the inward ; nor did he 
ever give authority to uninspired men to alter, 
change, or modify, much less to abolish, any of his 
ordinances — not even to the regulating the fringe 
on the vestments of the high priests, the bells 
which hung upon their garments, or the taches and 
tenons of the Tabernacle. There were no unmean- 
ing '' rites and ceremonies'' proceeding from divine 
authority under the law, and those ordained by 
" the Fathers" only made void '' God's command- 
ments by their traditions.'' 

Take for example circumcision, the diverse im- 
mersions, the Sabbath, the Passover, sacrifice — 
were these merely outward ordinances? Had 



184 EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

they no inward significancy and life ? Were they 
bodies without souls; "rites and ceremonies" 
without any moral ? Or were they dead customs, 
which might or might not be observed, — " non- 
essentials ?'' Far otherwise I The man who ne- 
glected circumcision broke the covenant, and was 
cut off from the people. He who neglected " the 
Sabbath'^ was sorely punished. One was even 
stoned to death for picking up sticks on this hal- 
lowed day — the Jewish Sabbath. 

The case of Uzziah, for his trespass in touching 
the Ark with unpriestly hands, and was stricken to 
death, is a solemn warning to those who deal in 
unessentials in religion; and also Nadab and 
Abihu, who were destroyed for offering strange 
fire on the altar. 

Now if these things were so under the Law, 
what shall we say of the same principle, as it 
obtains under the Grospel ? "If the things spoken 
by angels were steadfast, and every transgression 
and disobedience met with a just retribution, 
how shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
tion, which first began to be spoken by the Lord, 
and was confirmed unto us by those (the Apostles) 
who heard him ?^^ 

The Law was but the shadow of good things to 
come, of which the Gospel is the substance; the 
one is the image of the truth, the other is the truth 
itself. The one a fleshly, the other a spiritual in- 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 185 

stitution. There is not a statute or ordinance of 
the Gospel that is merely outward. But all of 
them are designed and adapted to reach our spirit- 
ual nature. This was their chief characteristic. 
The very words of Christ are '^ spirit and life'^ — 
spiritual and life-giving, designed to give life to 
the spirit of man. 

So deeply does this feature pervade the Christian 
religion, that it is called by Paul to the Corinthi- 
ans — ^' Spirit/' in contradistinction to the Law, 
which he denominates ^' letter '^ — the law which 
kills. Under the GovSpel, the law of the spirit of 
life in Christ Jesus is not written on tables of 
stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart; it lies 
imbedded among the warm and living affections of 
the soul, written there by the finger of God. No 
service that does not proceed from a renewed life 
is acceptable to God. He must be worshipped 
'^in spirit and in truth" — not in spirit only, but 
in truth ; not in '' truth" only, but also in '^ spirit.'' 

Can it then be supposed that any ordinances 
proceeding from the Messiah, with special reference 
to the spiritual wants of our nature, can fail in this 
particular ? To judge so would be to impeach the 
wisdom and the goodness of the only Law-giver, 
who can save and can destroy. It would prove 
indeed that Christianity was a failure, and its ordi- 
nances no better than dead fruit, hung on the tree 
of life ; or the automaton motions of a wooden man. 



186 EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

The very fact, that there are but few ordinances 
in the Gospel, indicate the necessity for their ob- 
servance, and the importance to be attached to 
them. There may be many wheels to a watch, and 
an intricate machinery, but it has only one main 
spring ; and all this would be of no value without 
the hands upon its face to indicate the time. The 
hands, you say, are of little value by themselves 
considered ? True ; but on the face of the watch 
they are indispensable, — so far as the notation of 
time is concerned, the most essential part of the 
watch, — without them it would be of no value what- 
ever as a time-piece. We have a thousand statutes 
in the state ; there is but one in regard to the act 
of naturalization. So we have but one Lord^s day, 
one Baptism (in English, Immersion), one Supper. 
The very fewness of the ordinances of the Gospel, 
in the midst of so many precepts in connexion 
with the two great commandments on which both 
the Law and the Gospel hang, show that they are 
of prime importance, and are not to be dispensed 
with or neglected, without the sternest necessity 
require it. 

I would ask then. Is the Lord's day a mere out- 
ward ordinance ? Has it no significancy, no life, 
no meaning ? What then becomes of the resur- 
rection of the Messiah which it commemorates ? 
Is this an idle tale, an abortion ? Has the grave 
not yet yielded up its dead ? Has it not relented^ 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 187 

at least for once, and given back ^^ a reanimated 
corse'' " to dwell for ever in a vernal bloom ?" 

The Lord's day is not a useless, unmeaning rite, 
but a great commemoration, a glorious jubilee 1 
It celebrates not tbe rest after creation, but the 
birth of a higher, nobler creation than the seventh 
day did. It tells us that humanity has achieved a 
mighty triumph over the great enemy, by the Son 
of God. And as each first day appears, it calls us 
together with songs of rapture and loud hallelu- 
jahs, to chant the praises of Him who has 
wrought for us so great a deliverance. 

No Jewish Sabbath, no grand festival of the 
nation, no Greek or Koman celebrations or kingly 
triumphs were ever so jubilant as this, our Lord's 
day, to the devout disciple of Christ. If Christi- 
anity had given us nothing but this day, for calm 
and social enjoyments, ^^the pearl of all the week," 
to arrest the spirit of worldliness and trade, to stop 
the endless wheel of labour, to restore strength to 
the wasted energies of man and beast, and for the 
blessings it brings to the individual, the family, 
the state, and above all for the spiritual necessities 
it meets, and the sublime hopes it cherishes, it well 
deserves our reverence and praise. 

Surely, then, the Lord's day is no ^^ external 
ordinance," but a soul-cheering, life-animating, 
hope-awakening day. It has filled, and is still 
filling the world with light; and life, and hope; 



188 EXTERNAL OEDINANCES. 

and points througli the open tomb of the Nazarene, 
the way that leads to glory and to incorruptibility. 

** The path which winds 'mongst gorgeous trees, 
The streams, whose bright lips kiss the flowers, 
The winds, that swell their harmonies 
Through the sun-hiding bowers," 

are not so pleasant or so grateful as this day, which 
brings us back to the risen Saviour, and leads us 
on to the glory to be revealed at His appearing and 
kingdom. 

Is the Lord's Supper a mere bodily rite, an 
external ordinance ? What an abuse of terms, what 
an insult offered to the Son of God I Do these 
elements of bread and of wine which are found on 
the table on every Lord's day represent nothing ? 
Are they dead and unmeaning rites ? or do they 
not symbolize the greatest of all acts of kindness 
and of love, of meekness and condescension ? And 
who was it that said, " Do this in remembrance of 
me V^ Where is the seat of memory ? is it on the 
outer man ? Is it not within the soul ; and are not 
some of the richest pleasures of the mind derived 
from it ? 

The Supper, by its social properties, the harmo- 
nizing influence it exerts over us, the joint com- 
munion which it enjoins, and the solemn, joyful 
remembrances it awakens, is most spiritualizing in 
its tendency and nature. The very simplicity of the 
ordinance, and the materialistic nature of the 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 189 

elements; the breaking, the handling, the eating 
of the bread, the drinking of the cup — not to 
gratify the taste, to satisfy the appetite, to supply 
the wastes of the body, but to feed and nourish the 
soul, by its sacred and eternal memories, show its 
adaptation to the inner man. 

When properly observed, memory is sanctified, 
love for the gift of Christ is warmed into divine 
fervour, penitence for past failures is felt and 
promises of amendment are made, and hope for the 
future salvation is quickened into a new life at the 
promise of the Messiah's return. 

'' Forms,^^ says one, ^^ unduly exalted, dethrone 
our Divine Master from his supremacy, bring the 
palsy of formality upon our souls, and a withering 
blast upon our ministry. ^^ 

Whilst this is true in regard to forms unautho- 
rized by the Saviour, and of mere human origin, it 
cannot be said truly with respect to any of the 
institutions which God has ordained for our observ- 
ance. They contain in them the grace which he 
administers. They are the reservoirs of his mercy, 
the conduits through which enters into the soul the 
true grace of God. 

So long as we are in the flesh, forms of worship 
are and will be needed, not those of human but of 
divine origin. We can scarcely conceive of an 
ideal worship, a mere inward service — the silent 
homage of the mind ; nor can we represent to our- 
17 



190 EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

selves an inward reverence for divine things^ with- 
out some outward symbols as expressive of it. 
Words and acts are the true expressions of life, 
both in the natural and the spiritual kingdom ; and 
if we would move others, or be moved ourselves, 
we must give body to the spirit of worship. 

The Catholic worship runs to one extreme on 
this head, and the Protestant on the other. The 
one is characterized by activity, the other by pas- 
sivity ; the one is too outward, the other too inward. 
The Papacy treats us as children, in a state of ab- 
solute ignorance, the reformed churches as angels 
in a state of perfection. Christianity observes the 
just medium between these extremes. 

The ordinances of the Gospel are characteristic 
of its truth. They are the Grospel in symbols. They 
concentrate the scattered rays of divine truth into 
a common focus. Take, for example, Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper; they give us a vivid picture 
of the great truths of Christianity, which the mind 
at once seizes upon. This, however, is only so 
when these ordinances are observed in perfect form, 
and after the express command of the Saviour and 
the approved precedent of the Apostles. They are 
the summary of religion in significant acts. Chris- 
tianity is a system, perfect only with all its parts ; 
and the removal of one stone from the building 
mars the sublime structure altogether. 

To the frequent observance of ^^the Supper,'' 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 191 

that is for weekly communion, we offer the follow- 
ino; testimonials from those who knew nothino; of 
US a people, and whose views in other respects dif- 
fer widely from our own : — 

'^ Every week at least the table of the Lord 
should be spread for Christian assemblies.'^ — Cal- 
vin's Institutes. 

'^ The Independent Churches in England/' says 
the biographer of Dr. Owen, ^^ at the beginning 
observed the Lord's Supper every first day of the 
week.'' 

In the Baptist Confession of Faith, published in 
1611, is the following article : ^' That every church 
ought, according to the example of Christ's disci- 
ples, primitive churches, upon every first day of 
the week, being the Lord's Day, to assemble to- 
gether to pray, prophesy, praise God, and break 
bread, and perform all other parts of Scriptural 
communion for the worship of God, and their own 
mutual edification, and the preservation of true re- 
ligion and piety in the Church." — Crosby's History 
of the Baptists. 

^^ When we speak of innovations in the Church 
of Christ, we are not to inquire what was done by 
our fathers, but what was the order of the Church 
from the beginning. How did Christ ordain? 
How did his Apostles conduct ? In what state did 
they leave the Church ? Now it is notorious, that 
during the three first centuries of the Christian era^ 



192 EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

commTinions were held with a frequency of which, 
among us, we have neither example nor resemblance. 
It is also notorious, that the original frequency of 
communion declined as carnality and corruption 
gained ground ; and it is no less notorious that it 
has been urged as a weighty duty by the best of 
men and the best of churches, in the best of times. 
It is demonstrable that among the primitive Chris- 
tians, the celebration of the Supper was a part of 
the ordinary sanctification of the Lord's day. In 
this manner did the spirit of ancient piety cherish 
the memory of a Saviour's love.^' — Dr. Mason, of 
New York. 

Christianity begins with the heart, and works 
outwardly on the life, like the hidden forces of the 
vegetable world. The life of the seed is deposited 
in the earth, and shows itself in the reproduction 
of its kind ; as, for instance, the oak from the 
acorn, and the harvest from the grain. 

Is Christian baptism, then, a mere external ordi- 
nance ? By no means ! Like all the other ordi- 
nances of the Gospel, it has its place in the Divine 
economy. It is the outward expression of grand 
and sublime facts, and stands as the expressive 
symbol of the most important truths. It has its 
form, like the acorn, and enfolds its hidden life ; 
and, unless you obtain its outward form, you fail in 
securing it. All the imitations of an acorn could 
not make an oak. To show that Christian immer- 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 193 

sion is not an ^^ external ordinance/' we would 
observe : — 

1st. It is not designed to operate as an end on 
the outer man. The outer man fully is subjected 
to the element of water ; but certainly it is not 
administered as an ablution for the body. 

2d. It is not designed either for the cleansing of 
the bodies of men, or to effect any cures on the 
outer man ; it is not for the purification of the flesh, 
as were the Jewish ablutions. 

3d. It is not to be regarded, as were many of the 
Jewish institutions, as a fleshly ordinance ; but a 
liighly spiritual one, reaching to the conscience of 
the obedient disciple. 

4th. The nearest conception we can form of 
baptism as a bodily rite, is, when administered to a 
penitent believer, without any express design, as in 
some of the popular churches ; unless it be when a 
few drops of water in the name of the Lord are 
administered upon the bodies of children, before 
they know or feel that they have any spirits what- 
ever. Paedobaptism is a merely external ordinance 
— a bodily rite — an outward observance. 

God never did require any one to observe a com- 
mand of his, without annexing to it some promise : 
" Ask, and you shall receive — seek, and you shall 
find — knock, and it shall be opened to you — Look, 
and be saved.'' This is the tenor of all his pre- 
cepts in the Scriptures. It would be strange, in- 
17* 



194 EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 

deed, if tlie first act of obedience to tlie Messiah, as 
^^Lord and Clirist/^ should be an exception to this 
rule. 

Unless a man be " born of water and the Spirit/' 
he cannot enter into Christ's spiritual kingdom. 
" By water here/' Albert Barnes says, " is evi- 
dently signified baptism." All commentators so 
understood it, until Calvin taught otherwise. 

Baptism is the turning point of a man's conver- 
sion to God, when the sinner renounces his former 
disobedience, and becomes a disciple of Christ. 

It is the entrance into a new life. And what 
more appropriate figure than a birth could be em- 
ployed when such an event occurs? How dif- 
ferent this from ^^ baptismal regeneration," without 
faith, repentance, or even the germ of a new life 
in the soul of the subject ! 

Baptism introduces the penitent believer into 
that state in which, according to God's promise, 
pardon may be found; just as prayer, in confes- 
sion of sins, introduces the Christian into that 
state in which God has promised to cleanse him 
from all unrighteousness. 

Baptism is not to be regarded as a mere duty — 
a duty, doubtless, it is — but it is also a special or- 
dinance, a positive institution designed to impart, 
according to promise, the knowledge of salvation 
to the believer, by the remission of sins. 

It is the kiss of the father to the returning pro- 



EXTERNAL ORDINANCES. 195 

digal. It is tlie ring of marriage to the new-made 
bride. It is the song of the reaper for the harvest- 
gathering. It is the proof of naturalization to the 
welcomed alien. 

Talk you of external ordinances, when the heart, 
the soul, the conscience, the memory, the affec- 
tions, are all quickened, touched, reached by this 
solemn and expressive institution ? 

As well might you call the lips an outward 
organ, a mere bodily act, when they pour out from 
the heart the deep tones of fervid praise for the re- 
demption which Christ has wrought; or the re- 
surrection of the dead an outward rite, when the 
soul shall be clothed upon with its immortal vest- 
ments, at the sound of the last trump. 



r; I,.. 



THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM, AND THE 
MEANS OF ITS ENJOYMENT. 

^^ But. for this yery reason also do ye, contribut- 
ing all diligence, furnish in your faith, fortitude ; 
and in fortitude, knowledge; and in knowledge, 
self-control; and in self-control, patience; and in 
patience, godliness; and in godliness, brotherly 
kindness; and in brotherly kindness, love. For 
these things being yours and increasing, render 
you not idle nor unfruitful as to the knowledge of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these 
things is blind, being near-sighted, having for- 
gotten the cleansing away of the old sins. Where- 
fore the rather, brethren, be diligent to make your 
calling and election sure ; for doing these things, 
ye shall never fall : for so there shall be richly 
furnished unto you the entrance into the everlast- 
ing kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ.^' 2 Peter, i. 5-11. (Revised version. 
American Bible Union.) 

No one ever gained a kingdom but by the most 
strenuous effort. Most of the kingdoms of this 
world have been won by the greatest expense of 
treasure and of blood. But this kingdom, is the 



THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM. 197 

greatest of all, it is an everlasting kingdom, and 
summons for its attainment the endeavours of a 
lifetime ; once gained, tlie title is secure and per- 
petual, a kingdom never to be shaken or moved. 

But chiefly are we concerned in reference to the 
means for entering into this kingdom, and the 
qualifications for its enjoyment. 

Let us, in the light of the improved version, 
which exactly represents the original in this 
passage, carefully examine this subject. 

You will observe the striking difference there is 
between the ^^ revision' ' and the common version 
of this passage. And first, ^^ contributing all dili- 
gence, furnish in your faith, fortitude/^ To con- 
tribute is a voluntary act. It is the giving freely 
of our substance. This is to be done, not care- 
lessly or irregularly, but with diligence — with all 
diligence. This word in the passage allies itself to 
another. What we give, we furnish, and there- 
fore the contributions spoken of, the richest indeed 
that men can give, furnish in our faith certain in- 
gredients, treasures, excellencies, which it is our 
design chiefly to consider. 

1st. Faith stands at the head of this list, em- 
bracing eight distinct items — a perfect octave ; and 
like the eight notes in the scale, which furnish an 
infinite diversity of sounds, so this octave is as full 
of harmony as any which the divine art of music 
has ever discoursed. But faith occupies pre-emi- 



198 THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM^ AND 

nently a position different from all these elements, 
yet mingling itself with each. The sound of the 
first note of faith lends its harmony to them all, 
without the least possible discord to break into 
their perfect unity. Or rather it is a centre from 
which they all radiate^, terminating in their utmost 
bounds to the great circle of love, and lending 
each from one common centre, strength, beauty, 
and compactness ; a wheel within a wheel, the 
centre of which is the heart of faith, the utmost 
bounds, the heaven of love. 

It is certain that faith holds a most important 
and influential place in this great system. It per- 
vades every part of it, and sends its equalizing 
heat throughout the whole. The very system is 
not unfrequently called " The Faith,^^ not so much 
on account of the act of the mind in believing, 
but because it moves itself in the all radiant influ- 
.ence of this great principle. It rejects as gross 
and unsuitable to its nature everything which 
assimilates not to itself, — and says to all men, '' It 
is impossible to please God^^ without the exercise 
of faith in his Word. 

2d. In this your faith, as a Christian, you are to 
furnish ^^ fortitude.'^ A new element must be 
introduced within the domain of faith, an element 
of great power and strength, indispensable to its 
efficiency, and bearing to it a striking relationship. 

As leaven in the three measures of meal, so for- 



THE MEANS OF ITS ENJOYMENT. 199 

titude must be introduced within tlie domain of 
faith, and pervade every part of it. Or as one 
color is mixed with another, to give to it new 
beauty and effect, so fortitude must be placed 
within your faith, to give it life and j^trength and 
efficiency. 

It is not by its own force that faith brings into 
existence this new element. It is not its ever ready 
and legitimate growth, but it is by the diligence of 
the disciple that this contribution shall be furnished; 
and as, by the exercise of any moral excellence, it 
gains strength and power, so the greater the dili- 
gence, and the larger the contribution, the purer 
and the more perfect becomes this virtue. 

Beautiful indeed is the relation between faith 
and fortitude. One, indeed, is of no use without 
the other. Of what efficacy would be the faith 
in the absence of the fortitude ? and how sturdy 
and despotic the fortitude in the absence of the 
faith ? 

Chiefly was fortitude needed in primitive times. 
It endowed the soul with manliness and courasre to 
endure the taunts of the proud, and the oppositions 
of the wicked ; it fired with a lofty zeal the hearts 
of the disciples, and filled them with a most indo- 
mitable spirit. 

This virtue is the opposite of tameness, cowardice, 
and pusillanimity ; traits of character the most des- 



y 



200 THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM^ AND 

picable in any cause, but particularly so in a good 
one. 

It is also the opposite of passion, excitement, 
frenzy; the infatuation of the lawless, the intoxi- 
cation of the fierce, the fanaticism of the ignorant. 
It allies itself to coolness and gentleness, to that 
sedateness and composure which the leader of a 
great army in times of peril is endowed with, to 
moderate and cheeky to restrain and to curb, '' to 
suffer and be strong.'^ 

3d. In your fortitude, furnish knowledge. 

Fortitude is naturally blind ; it allies itself more 
to sentiment and passion than to reflection or judg- 
ment, and therefore, in the absence of knowledge, 
would be a dangerous element to trust. But when 
under the control and guidance of knowledge, it 
acts as a mighty force in the accomplishment of 
good. Fortitude may be compared to the steam 
force, which when alone and misdirected is an ele- 
ment of uncontrollable might, but when subjected 
to proper laws, and under the direction of intelli- 
gence, is among the most useful of all mechanical 
agents. Fortitude feels, it never reasons. It 
has in it no philosophy. Fortitude arms us 
for the battle of life; we come into the world 
in a state of war. Disease and want, trial and 
suffering meet us at every step ; and therefore 
the need for heroism. This is the true equipment 
of the soul ; it gives us self-reliance, and teaches 



THE MEANS OF ITS ENJOYMENT. 201 

US to do, to suffer, and be strong — it is not to b6 
wearied out by opposition ; it arms the soul against 
tbe world, and makes us feel tbe dignity of our own 
nature. Having cbosen its part, it persists without 
compromise, and waits not the tardy justice and 
the blind sympathy of the age it outstrips. 

It laughs to scorn the baits and temptations and 
flatteries of the base and hypocritical, and bears all 
suffering for truth and righteousness with calmness 
and composure ; and if human virtue, or the call 
of God, demand a champion or a sacrifice, it throws 
itself into the breach, or lays itself upon the altar, 
with not only all freedom from fear, but with exulta- 
tion and joy. Is it not said of the Apostles when 
returning from the scourge, that they rejoiced in 
that they were counted worthy to suffer on account 
of the name of Christ? Others received joyfully 
the taking of their goods. Our great Leader, for 
the joy that was set before him, endured the cross 
and despised the shame! 

Knowledge of one's self, of the powers and attri- 
butes of the soul, its resources and capabilities, is 
an indispensable qualification for the doing good. 
The great fountain of religious truth is found in 
the oracles of God ; and these should be daily and 
devoutly studied. The Law, the Prophets, and the 
Psalms of the Old Testament; history, prophecy, 
the preceptive and didactic portions of the ancient 
Scriptures. The entire body of revealed truth in 

18 ^ 



202 THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM, AND 

the Old Testament will be found profitable for 
teaching, for conviction, and instruction in righteous- 
ness ; and this, in connexion with the writings of 
the New, should command our daily attention. 

We should study the Scriptures, search into the 
oracles of God, look intently into the perfect law 
of liberty, and meditate upon the Word of God 
day and night ; and thus with our fortitude mingle 
knowledge, and give to it eyes, and light, and all 
necessary intelligence. It is the entrance of God's 
Word that giveth light — that gives understanding 
to the simple. 

4th. In your knowledge, furnish self-control. 
This word is rendered '' temperance,^' in the com- 
mon version, and by others '^ continence ;'' but 
neither words fully represent the force of the ori- 
ginal. The former as well as the latter are but 
forms of self-control — specifications under a gene- 
ral head. Self-control is a noble but difficult virtue. 
It regulates the passions, appetites, and propensi- 
ties of the inner man, and requires the utmost 
effort of the will, and an enlightened judgment; 
and therefore is allied to knowledge. 

In this, as in all the specifications enumerated 
in this formula, there appears to be a most apt and 
suitable relationship existing. Knowledge does 
not always associate itself with duty ; the one often 
outstrips the other, if indeed it is not too often 
thought to be superior to it. '' Knowledge pufiB 



THE MEANS OF ITS ENJOYMENT. 203 

up — love builds up/' It will be seen^ then, how 
important that self-control shall blend itself with 
knowledge; the one acting as a check, as well 
as a guide to the other. This virtue is indispensa- 
ble to the formation of all those habits which give 
dignity to the man, and secures him against the 
many temptations to self-indulgence which lie 
around him. It allies itself to all that is heroic 
and sublime in our moral actions ; making us dis- 
interested and self-sacrificing; exalting the mind 
above all that is mean and base ; repressing all that 
is mercenary and illiberal; correcting all that is 
immoral and vicious ; imparting strength of mind 
to guard against the weakness of the flesh; giving 
courage to the irresolute, wisdom to the indiscreet, 
and assistance to the weak side of our nature, and 
all necessary aid to calm and control, as well as to 
subdue, the foibles and failings of the flesh. It 
leads us to give due credit to the excellence of 
others ; to endow us with a noble disinterestedness, 
which will not permit us to look so much on our 
own things as on the things of others ; rebuking 
all egotism, self-love, self-indulgence, and self-inte- 
rest. Truly, this is a noble virtue, and, when mixed 
with knowledge, it is Godlike — Christlike ! 

5th. In your self-control, furnish patience. As 
self-control is a difficult virtue, and one in con- 
stant demand, how important that the ingredient 




204 THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM, AND 

of patience should mix with it, to give it perma- 
nency and endurance ! 

To be weary in well-doing, to be faint in the day 
of temptation, to cease to war against the flesh for 
a single hour, is dangerous to our character, and is 
the harbinger of apostacy. A patient continuance 
in well-doing is necessary to the attainment of 
eternal life. Habits often are extremely invete- 
rate. Take, for instance, the life of the intempe- 
rate. By the most strenuous efforts, he may over- 
come his love for the use of strong drink ; for 
years he may exercise the most perfect self-control ; 
but, if, by temptation, he is overcome, if he ex- 
ercises not patience or perseverance, one fatal cup 
may undo the labour and the self-denial of years. 

These virtues, like all the rest, are related to 
each other, and we see the wisdom and the fitness 
of blending them together, to form the perfect 
character of the Christian. All that is embraced 
in the ideas of wakefulness, vigilance, and pains- 
taking; all that we understand by the terms, to 
plod, to ply, to persist, in the path of duty, we find 
in this word, patience. It stands opposed to inac- 
tion, when effort is demanded, either for our own 
good or that of others; to sloth, the rust of the 
soul, which blunts its edge, and renders it ineffi- 
cient. It rouses the sleepy, it rebukes the lag- 
gard, it quickens the supine. It prompts us to as. 
fsiduity in the life of self-denial and obedience ;— - 



THE MEANS OF ITS ENJOYMENT. 205 

ready for every good work — holding fast tlie be- 
ginning of our confidence and the boasting of our 
liope to the end. 

6th. In your patience, furnish ^^ godliness.^' 
This is a still higher element of character, as it 
allies itself to all that is divine in the life of the 
Christian. Enduing our patience with an attribute 
of heavenly birth, it relates us to God, who al- 
ways acts like himself. All that we understand 
by veneration for what is sacred, sanctity in our 
life, and consecration of our persons to the Most 
High, are to be found in this element of character. 
It is the highest religious attribute in the life of 
the Christian, rendering him saintly; enshrining 
within the soul, God ; cherishing all holy thoughts, 
all heavenly desires, all devout affections. It leads 
us to worship, to adore, to pay homage to the Fa- 
ther of Spirits ; to offer up prayers and supplica- 
tions with thanksgivings ; to observe all the duties, 
private and public, which Christianity enjoins, as 
a religious institution — steadfastly continuing in 
the teaching of the Apostle — the contribution — - 
the breaking of bread and prayers. 

It stands opposed to all will-worship, idolatry, 
and self-immolation; it forbids all sorcery and 
magic, all necromancy and fascination, all second- 
sight, ancient or modern, and all that is understood 
by exorcism and spirit-rapping ; elevating the 
soul far above all these unworthy and malignant 
18* 



206 THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM, AND 

influences, and leading it to find its chief solace in 
the knowledge of God, his worship and praise. 

It leads us to abjure all allegiance to man in 
matters of religion, under whatever name or desig- 
nation — Pontifical, Episcopal, canonical — to call no 
man master but One in religion, and no one Father 
in the true spiritual sense of that word, but God. 

It receives not into its vocabulary '' Primates,^ ^ 
*^ Archbishops,'' or ^^ Prelates,'' ^^ Deans," ^^Pre- 
bendaries," or ^^ Canons," ^^ Popes," "Pontifi's/' or 
^^ Cardinals." 

It has no monks or friars, no nuns or novices, 
no lay-brothers or mendicants, no Carmelites or 
Campbellites. It has no matins or vespers, no 
Eucharist or christening, no water sprinkling or 
pouring, no rosary or pyx, no tiara, triple crown 
or crosier, no Easter. 

These belong not to the elements of godliness, 
but must be classed under the head of the Apostacy, 
and belong to the dominion of him who sits in the 
Temple of God, and receives worship from his 
devotees as if he were a God. From such turn 
away. 

7th. In your godliness furnish brotherly kind-, 
ness. 

The element of godliness at once suggests the 
idea of sonship, of children of the Divine Father, 
of wearing the image of the incorruptible God. 
Under the reign of the Messiah all the subjects 



THE MEANS OF ITS ENJOYMENT. 207 

are sons, sons of God by a birtli and an adoption, 
and because tbey are sons, God has sent forth the 
spirit of his Son into their hearts, by which they 
cry '^ Abba-r-Father." But as the relationship of 
sons implies other relationships; being sons, they 
are brothers, and whilst the filial affections grow 
out of the one the fraternal grows out of the other. 
We are taught of God to love one another. 

Love to the brotherhood is the new command- 
ment of the new institution. It is a ^^gem of 
purest ray serene,^' enchased in the golden casket 
of godliness, their colours interfusing and their 
lio'ht mellowino; each other. It is a treasure 
worthy the divine setting it receives. It is as a 
star shining all alone in the heavens, anticipating 
the trooping heraldry of night. 

It was among the last of the precepts given by 
our Saviour to his disciples. 

It was the utterance of a great thought which 
lay nearest his heart, which the affecting scenes 
then before him did not so much absorb as give to 
it intensity. How brillant is this gem when set in 
godliness ! The softening shadow of the one blends 
itself with the light and beauty of the other. It is 
a jewel worth a kingdom. Love abides and shall 
abide for ever. It is the greatest of the noble 
three. Like the three warriors in the army of 
David, this has won eternal fame ! 

8th. But the spirit of benevolence, breathed in 



208 



THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM. 



Christianity, is as broad as the divine philanthropy, 
and therefore another setting is introduced by this 
Christian philosopher, a gem within a gem, a jewel 
enchased within a jewel. 

The Apostle adds — ^^ In brotherly kindness- 
love/' This is the crowning virtue ; it is the end 
of the sacred list enumerated by the Apostle, and, 
in the language of Paul, it is the end of the com- 
mandment. '' The end of the commandment is 
love out of a pure heart, out of a good conscience, 
and out of faith unfeigned.^' 

"We will only add : '^ For these things being 
yours and increasing, render you not idle or un- 
fruitful as to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
Christ — for if ye do these things, ye shall never 
fall. For so there shall be richly furnished you 
the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.^^ 



THE END. 



LADIES' CHRISTIAN ANNUAL, 

JAMES CHALLEN, Editor, 
Assisted by an Able Corps of Contributors. 

A Monthly of 32 double-column 8ro. pages. Embellished 
"with Steel Engravings and other Illustrations, and printed 
on the best book paper. Designed to develop a pure litera- 
ture free from all denominational bias. Terms, one copy one 
year, $1.00; six copies $5.00; twenty copies $15.00. Sub- 
scriptions commence January and July. 

" The Cave op Machpelah and Other Poems," by James 
Challen. Muslin, $1.00; muslin, full gilt, $1.50; morocco, 
full gilt, $2.00. By mail, postpaid. 

" Ladies' Christian Annual." Vols. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Illus- 
trated. Gilt muslin, $1.00 per volume. The same in two 
volumes, gilt muslin, $1.50 per volume, or $3.00 per set. By 
mail, postpaid. 

"The Gospel and its Elements," by James Challen. This 
work is designed to show the origin and reasons of the 
Reformation as plead by the Disciples, and to develop the 
Elements of the Gospel, Printed on the finest paper, 208 
pages. Muslin, 37i cents per copy, or three copies $1.00. 
Paper, 25 cents per copy, or five copies $1.00, Remit post- 
office stamps. Heavy discount by the dozen or hundred 
copies. 

Agents wanted for all our works, to whom a large per- 
centage will be allowed. Elders, Evangelists, and Superin- 
tendents of Sunday Schools will receive subscriptions. 
Address JAMES CHALLEN & SONS, Publishers, 

Bulletin Building, Phila., Pa. 

Our books are also for sale, wholesale and retail, by J. B. 
Lippincott & Co., and H. Cowperthwait & Co., Philadelphia ; 
H. S. Bosworth, 8th and Walnut streets, Cincinnati; A. 
Campbell, Bethany, Va. ; and at the book stores and publish- 
ing offices of the Denomination throughout the Union. 



-> 



T) 



THE 



GOSPEL 



AND ITS ELEMENTS. 



BT 



JAMES CHALLEN, 

AUTHOR OP 

WTHE CAVE OF MACUPELAH AND OTHER POEMS.' 



" Prove all thin^." 



PHILADELPHIA: 
JAMES CHALLEN & SONS, 

BULLETIN BUILDINGS. 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 20 NORTH FOURTH STREET. 

1856. 



l\ 



£) 



^ 



LADIES' CHRISTIAN ANNUAL. 

JAMES CHALLEX, Editor, 
Assisted b}' an Able Corps of Coutributors. 

A Monthly of 32 double-column 8vo. pages. Embellished 
with Steel Engravings and other Illustrations, and printed 
on the best book paper. Designed to develop a pure litera- 
ture free from all denominational bias. Terms, one copy ono 
year, $1.00; six copies $5.00; twenty copies $15.00. Sub- 
scriptions commence January and July. 

" The Cave of Machpelah and Other Poems/* by James 
Challen. Muslin, $1.00; muslin, full gilt, $1.50; morocco, 
full gilt, $2.00. By mail, postpaid. 

" Ladies' Christian Annual." Vols. 1, 2, .3, and 4. Illus- 
trated. Gilt muslin, $1.00 per volume. The same in two 
volumes, gilt muslin, $1.50 per volume, or $3.00 per set. By 
mail, postpaid. 

^' The Gospel and its Elements," by James Challen. This 
work is designed to show the origin and reasons of the 
Reformation as plead by the Disciples, and to develop the 
Elements of the Gospel, Printed on the finest paper, 208 
pages. Muslin, 37^ cents per copy, or three copies $1.00. 
Paper, 25 cents per copy, or five copies $1.00. Remit post- 
office stamps. Heavy discount by tho dozen or hundred 
copies. 

Agents wanted for all our works, to whom a large per- 
centage will be allowed. Elders, Evangelists, and Superin- 
tendents of Sunday Schools will receive subscriptions. 
Address JAMES CHALLEN & SONS, Publishers, 

Bulletin Building, Phila., Pa. 

Our books are also for sale, wholesale and retail, by J. B. 
Lippincott & Co., and H. Cowperthwait & Co., Philadelphia; 
n. S. Bosworth, 8th and Walnut streets, Cincinnati ; A. 
Campbell, Bethany, Va. ; and at the book stores and publish- 
ing offices of the Denomination throughout the Union, 



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